How can you depict a place that stands out in the Greek countryside, recognized as one of the top mountainous settlements?

The answer is given by the place itself with its dynamic personality. Such a place, at the Arcadian threshold with the Tsakonian essence, is Kastanitsa.

A genuine Tsakonian village with a completely stone-built heart, in the heart of Parnon, a gem on the slopes of the beautiful Arcadian mountain.

Very early in the morning, when the sun hits the western slope, it also illuminates the top of the hill, where the majestic tower of Kapsampeli stands tall.

The withered nature is reborn here, earlier than anywhere else.

Taygetos, Mani, Tsakonia, Evrontas, Limira, Maleas, and Akrotainaro are a small model of the broader Moraitic landscape. All the good dresses of these places are sewn on-site with the thimble of time and the crochet of myths. And it’s like a botanical paradise, full of coats of arms and menhirs from trees and rocks.

Parnon, a mountain with immense botanical wealth and luxurious forest undergrowths, cultivates from the winds countless bulbs, calyxes, stems, but also roots, trunks, and tubers, thus forming some of the most precious flowering areas of the Moraitic land.

Here, then, on Parnon and especially in Kastanitsa, as well as in the surrounding Tsakonian villages, a blessed celebration unfolds, sprinkling the land with an abundance of herbs and colorful flowers.

In the two extreme legs of the Morea that embrace the Laconic Gulf, and separate Taygetos from Parnon, the earthly turmoil overflows, stirring thousands of herbs within a suffocating vice of colors and fragrances.

Taygetos is a mountain rich in alkaline elements that fertilize and enrich the new era before its time.

Parnon could not be left out of the natural alarm.

That’s why we set it as our goal.

By declaring the area of Parnon Tsakonia as a vision for hiking madness, we decided to make a discovery journey of the species.

Kastanitsa is not a stop for travelers. It is, beyond everything else, a boundary destination, the goal of a lace ribbon of mountains, forests, and cultural goods. It is also the starting point of activities determined by the behavior of the land.

Parnon is not only famous for its forests and botanical paradises. It also has, particularly on its eastern side, an incredible network of rocky reliefs, marked by the wild incision of ravines, deep valleys, and the mosaics of an inexhaustible natural laboratory.

We arrived in Kastanitsa in the evening. The darkness, thick and insensitive, does not allow you to measure the details and qualities of a place with magnificent images.

You begin to wander through the lodges and narrow alleys of a lonely place, illuminated by the lights of magical realism.

We stay at the beautiful guesthouse of the Antoniou family and rush to have dinner at the village’s unique tavern, where five or six heroic peasants of Tsakonian desolation are having a modest meal.

The place is the solid core for mountain excursions for all the geophysical goals and destinations of Parnon.

We will start in the morning, with the wish, praise, and advice of the locals for a safari of routes that will reveal the unique beauty of the Tsakonian landscape.

The first steps will be taken on the central cobbled street of the village, which runs along the ridge to the base of the imposing hill, where the tower of Kapsampeli stands.

On this route, you don’t know where to direct your gaze. The old mansions, white, but also half-painted, in the color of blue chalk, rise impressively on the slopes of the backbone, and it’s as if they are walking with you, each with its own precipice.

The cobblestone path, well-made, with many twists, spirals into the chest of the hill, revealing a floating floral dust of lilies, cyclamens, primulas, and other beautiful wildflowers. At the top of the hill, the view is breathtaking. The eastern ridge of Megali Tourla, with the fresh March snow, sprinkled, emerges in a turmoil of heaps galloping on the tattered sheet of the mountain between sparse fir clusters and deep bare ravines, while from whichever side you look, the deep valleys and ravines formed by Parnon’s geological structure captivate you for hours.

However, since we must take the main road to Prastos and the Mazia Gorge, we will leave the narcotic view of Kapsampeli and head towards the forest, high above the village, where the hiking path to the old capital of Kynouria begins.

On a bend in the road, the clear and marked path to Prastos is defined. Through the sharp fragrances of March, we mark the colorful undergrowth of the forest, the shrublands, and the towering trunks of the chestnut trees.

We are above a thousand meters in altitude, the temperature is low but not uncomfortable, and it will pass us through the crossroads to the Monastery of Kontolina and lead us to the deep gorge of Mazia. From there, we will traverse the slope of Kouniali and look down from above at the old capital of Tsakonia, Prastos, with its tower houses and the two separate neighborhoods divided by the stream of Disas.

We will recover until we find the Mazia Gorge, which was halfway through the route from Kastanitsa to Prastos. From that point, we will use all the techniques of rappelling to reach the base of the gorge, from where the route will be magical and mostly embellished by the variety of the twelve watermills that rustle at the roots of the bed.

From the exit of the gorge to the public road, we will need to walk two kilometers until we find the sign leading to the closure of the Monastery of Prodromos.

A thousand meters of ascent on a smooth dirt road until the impressive ruins of the old monastery are visible.

There is a new chapel next to the towering old cells of the deserted monastery.

Returning, we will carve another route. From Kastanitsa, we will take the road to Sitaina. Along the way, we will encounter an endless flock of goats that refuse to clear the path.

Passing by Agios Sozon, at a characteristic turn, we will gaze at the deep valley of the Zarbantitsa gorge with the waterfalls of Loulouga river.

Reaching Sitaina, we will notice that from here begins the most mountainous ascent to the Great Tourla, the summit of Parnon (1,935 meters) in four hours. We don’t have the time to follow this route, which leads to Mount Kronion.

We will continue to Platanos and whatever we can reach. There, the waterfalls of Lepida, the bridge of Spiliaka, and another closure of Agios Georgios await us.

We will manage to go down to the beautiful single-arched bridge of Spiliaka, but the route to Agios Georgios encounters insurmountable climbing difficulties, and time doesn’t allow for the waterfalls of Lepida.

We will wander through the beautiful neighborhoods of Platanos and sit for a tsipouro at Anna’s guesthouse, whose son will guide us through the stories of the beautiful village.

Near dusk, we will organize our return to the lands of Kastanitsa, where a surprise awaits us. The village doctor (endocrinologist), who stays at his parental home while his wife lives and works in Patras, and his two children are doctors in Geneva and Chania, will prick us with his insulin needle. Soothing insulin, as he takes us on a tour of his rich home, with the heirlooms of three generations and countless family photos.

George lives in Patras, but his mind and heart are in Kastanitsa.

He is the grandson of the princess of Ethiopia, who came to Greece after the persecutions and blind violence she faced from the legionaries of the Italian kingdom.

The doctor of Kastanitsa will open his big heart to us, as well as his impressive ancestral home, to immerse us in the wonderful stories of the people who passed through here during the decades of the last and the previous century.

The pictures, the heirlooms, and the relics in every corner and wall of the house reveal wealth and sensitivity, artistic judgment, and a rare cultivation of the spiritual world of the people who left their mark here.

And George, the endocrinologist from Patras, with his inexhaustible and natural humor, his sincere smile, and cultivated sensitivity, will treat us to local tsipouro, dates from Ethiopia, and an unusual speech that doesn’t just judge the innermost of his emotional life but also the everyday life in Kastanitsa in the year 2023.