Route 8 Detour to Ancient Psofida - Plaka – Monastery of Poretsos

Route 8 Detour to Ancient Psofida - Plaka – Monastery of Poretsos – Platanitsa

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Reset your distance meter in Tripotama and take the road that goes to the Monastery of Poretsos. At 3.7km to the right is the bank of Erymanthos. A road at the 4.7th km takes you to Astra, but you should go straight ahead through a mountainous landscape with a ravine to your left and Erymanthos all along the route...

You see small, traditional houses few and far between and admire the maple trees and the oaks. At 7.6 km you find the Community of Plaka which was burned down by the Germans and at the 8th km you can see Agrabela in the distance as well as mountain Erymanthos. At 9.7km you are in Agrabela. While at 10.7km you see the Monastery of Poretsos which you can reach within 300 metres. It is situated at an altitude of 1,100 metres in Erymanthos ravine, between the villages of Agrabela, Plake and Platanitsa. The place is ideal for a picnic. Go straight through thick vegetation and at 12km you enter Platanitsa. Very few people live here in winter but in the summer the inhabitants are about 100. In Platanitsa you get the sense that the mountain touches the sky and that you can enjoy a unique tranquillity.

Detour to Leivartzino – Leivartzi

At 48.1km on the road from Kalavryta to Tripotama, you turn left to Leivartzi. After the bridge at 1.5km, there is a fork (point P). The road ahead goes to Leivartzi and the one to the right to Lehouri and Kerassia. You drive straight ahead through the maple trees. At 2.5km. you can see the Monastery of Agia Triada to your left. You can only go there in a Jeep or pick-up truck, after 700 metres. At 3km you are in Leivartzi, which is surrounded by maple trees and running waters.

Its houses are build in the heart of the forest. At 4.1km there is an arched, stone little bridge and a stone spring amongst the maple trees. At 4.4km you reached the cobblestone square of Leivartzi, which is full of bridges and looks as if it is floating on the water that surrounds it. It is a beautiful bridge, where you will also find the bust of the village’s benefactor, Theodoros Tsavliris, and a place for food and coffee. Don’t miss the Tobaccomills and the Watermills.

Detour to Leivartzino – Lehouri

Go back to point P, the fork at the 1.5th km on the road from Leivartzi. Turn left to Lehouri. On your way up, a country road to the left goes to village Kerassia. You are on Erymanthos and you are bound to see sheep and shepherds. A little before you arrive at Lehouri, there is a monument to your right that looks like a hill of stones and demonstrates anathemas from the conflicts of 431 BC, 1825, 1916, 1936, 1946.

The altitude reaches 1,000 metres and in the distance to your left is the marvellous coniferous forest that starts from Lehouri all the way to Vlassia. At the main square in Lehouri, you will see the bust of Georgios Lehouris, a fighter of the Greek Revolution, and next to it the stone tower of Lehouritis, that was built during the Turkish Occupation.