Karpenisi

Karpenisi is a mountain town in the way that implies: the houses are low and red-roofed, the streets are steep, and the mountains are not a view from somewhere else, they are the reason you came.

What makes it unusual among Greek mountain towns is what happened here twice, in two different centuries. In August 1823 Markos Botsaris was killed at Kefalovryso, three kilometres out. And in May 1944 the village of Koryschades, five kilometres away, housed the National Council of Free Greece — the wartime government-in-exile — for a few weeks, and the museum in the old school is still the reason to stop there.

Around the town, the country is genuinely wild. The Karpenisiotis runs down through the valley and meets its tributaries at Dipotama to form the Trikeriotis. The road to Proussos passes through the Kleidi gorge beneath a rock overhang. At Proussos, thirty kilometres away, the Monastery of Panagia Prousiotissa stands on a cliff above a gorge, and a twenty-minute walk from it leads to the Mavri Spilia, a cave that functioned as a hideout through the period of Turkish rule.

And above it all is Velouchi, at 2,315 metres, with a ski centre among the oldest private ones in Greece and a black-pine forest on the slopes that is the closest thing the region has to virgin woodland.

There is no ancient city of any consequence here and no classical foundation tradition — Karpenisi does not appear in Stephanus of Byzantium, and nothing in the classical record attaches to the modern town. The area was settled, as so much of Evrytania was, by Vlach-speaking mountain communities moving down from the Pindus over centuries.

The name is older than the town, and what the Ottomans called Evrytania was a district of considerable strategic importance, sitting on the road between the Gulf of Corinth and Thessaly and controlling the gorges that run east towards Lamia. Fortification remains survive on the hill of Paliokastro, and Bronze Age tombs with bronze finds have been excavated at Kaminia.

The town was devastated in the 1943 German reprisals along with so much of the rest of Evrytania, and rebuilt afterwards. The strategic triangle of Gorgopotamos, Domnista and Klisura Pass remained the key road north through the mountains until the Second World War, when the bridge itself became the target: in November 1942 a detachment of ELAS, with help from British agents, blew up the Gorgopotamos bridge, eight kilometres from Lamia, a blow that cost the Axis months of engineering to repair.

Karpenisi is deep in the mountains and the sea is not a consideration at all — this is a place to come for altitude, water and walking, and the region delivers all three within a short drive.

The nearest and most rewarding walk is Velouchi, the massif immediately north, with a ski centre on its slopes and marked paths in summer. Between the town and the summit is the Krikelotissa, the black-pine forest, which is the oldest and largest stand of Greek fir in the country and the reason the slopes above the town are dark green rather than bare.

West is the valley of the Karpenisiotis. At Dipotama the river that comes down through the town meets the Krikelotissa and becomes the Trikeriotis, which is the start of the rafting. Further along the same road, the Kleidi gorge takes the road under a rock overhang, and then Proussos: the monastery of Panagia Prousiotissa stands on a cliff above its gorge, its feast is on 23 August, and a short walk from it is the Mavri Spilia, a cave that served as a hideout during the years of Ottoman rule.

Northwards, Proussos's mountain villages lead to Megalo Chorio, with its folklore museum, and on to Lake Kremasta at about fifty-five kilometres, the largest artificial lake in Greece, with the Tsagaralona viewpoint above it. The Panta Vrechi gorge, where you wade through eighty metres of running water, is a summer-only experience and only realistically from June to September.

The region has produced its own food, notably the cured ham and charcuterie of Proussos and mulberry tsipouro at Aspropyrgos.

Karpenisi is mountain food, and the specific thing to know is that Evrytania has its own cured-meat tradition. The Stremenos ham and charcuterie from Proussos is the best-known product of the region and is worth buying and eating on the spot rather than carrying home.

The everyday cooking is what Greek mountain towns do: grilled meats over charcoal, pies, baked dishes, the local cheeses, and a great deal of honey. The forests supply the game in season and the mushrooms, which are a genuine autumn event in the Pindus. Tsipouro is distilled here as a matter of course, and the mulberry tsipouro of Aspropyrgos is a local curiosity worth asking about.

Eat in the tavernas off the main road rather than on it, and eat the ham. It is the reason to try.

The season depends entirely on what you want. April to June is best for walking and for the mountain flowers, with the black pine in colour. July and August is the mountain-holiday season and Velouchi is busy, with the rafting at Dipotama at its best. September and October is the best overall: the trees turn, the mushrooms come in, and the crowds have gone. December to March is a genuine winter — Karpenisi is a ski town, and it snows properly. If you want snow and quiet, come in January; if you want walking, come in late September.

Karpenisi has no railway station, and the practical route is by car or by bus on the local network. It is about 3.5 hours from Athens via the A1 and the road over the Klisura or Giona passes, and about three hours from Lamia.

Roads over the mountains close in winter, so check conditions before committing to the Giona route. Accommodation is limited and fills completely in the carnival and ski seasons, so book well ahead. The Gorgopotamos bridge is the one thing here that is not in Evrytania but is 8 km away on the Lamia side, and is easy to add if you are driving that way. And wear proper shoes: this is not a town for flat footwear.