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 Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4

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delboy
Mad Destination Expert
delboy


Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 _
PostSubject: Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4   Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 Icon_minitimeTue Jul 16, 2013 9:08 pm

Wednesday morning it was an early breakfast as a 4x4 was going to pick me up at 8:45am,
however, the mountain we were going to climb was in cloud first thing but I mozzied up and put suntan lotion on

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 86510

the car arrived on time and we then had two more pickups to do, one of the couples were staying at the Alexander hotel and it turns out they were with Thomson, so meeting the rep down there
was no co incidence lol (One for Delboy to investigate later)

The car was quite a beast for the job a Sang Yong Rexton 2.8 litre

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 86610

The last couple we picked up were in Thassos Town, after which we when right round the otherside of the island before going off on this dirt track road to meet up  with the second car

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 86810

We were first going to Kastro, a village high in the mountains in the centre of the island

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 86910

The villagers of Kastro (which means castle) lived their lives 450m up in the mountains, mainly to protect themselves from mauraders, as the village couldn't be seen.
However, in later years the villagers were all tempted to go down to the coast for a better life after a mining company offered employment, I did ask what they were mining for and the
guide said, iron and minerals but gold was mentioned by the other guy as well.

sorry these next few shots are from the car, so may have blur

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 87010

Now when the mining finished, the villagers were too committed with other things like growing olives at the coast, they couldn't go back

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 87110

you can't see it from this picture but there is no rails to this road  Shocked

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 87210

here the edge is now in view, probably only 100 feet up lol

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 87310

yes we are still driving up, we haven't stopped, still, one does get better pictures without the standard crash barriers Shocked

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 87410

scenery was getting better

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 87510

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 87610

I think if you where a pirate and knew the village existed, you wouldn't bother to walk up here

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 87710

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 87810

and finally, we were there

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 88110

what's this a crash barrier at the top lol

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 88210

This is a strange ghost like village, where relatives of the original dwellers have returned and restored some of their houses using the same materials

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 88310

These are the houses they have restored,  some still in ruins in the foreground

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 88410

The relatives use them as holiday homes and come up for two weeks of the year

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 88510

some of the views

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 6u1w

an old marble quarry, apparently abandon because the quality is not so good

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 88710

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 Krn0

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 88910

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 Lwyu

peaceful up here, one guy in the party said, he would love to live up here

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 89110

Having taken a few photographs we were invited into this little church

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 89210

Nickos the guide told about some of the saints, this church, if i remember had a saints day in July. The church is mainly used for funerals and I was told you can't cremate anybody
in Thassos (and probably Greece) it's against the law. Relatives bury their dead for 5 or 6 years then dig them up, their bones are put in boxes. Unfortunately the insects etc
eat into the wood and then the boxes are placed in the bonehouse near the church. We were invited to look, some rejected the offer. When the boxes start to collapse,
the bones are placed in a big pile in the bonehouse. The theory is all the relatives are together for the end of time. I did witness this but felt it was not a thing to photograph.
This is the house from a distance

A humbling experience

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 89510

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 89310

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 Prrf

There was a little cafe there and a toliet which was well used lol, not sure if the cafe survives just on these trips

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 89910

we were then taken to a second church built 200 years ago on the ruins of previous churches. The guide obtained a key about a foot long and it unbolted a door after about
6 turns lol. Inside we were told that the men sit on the right and woman on the left, earlier times the women sat upstairs and not allowed downstairs. I was not allowed to take
photographs. They have had electicity put in the village in the last 10 years

apparently, this church's saint day is in January and a 1000 people attend the service, with speakers set up outside, also weddings take place

we were also shown a walnut tree (one of the crops on Thassos) , i haven't seen one before and the walnut has a soft outside which breaks open, revealing the crinkley shell that we normally see.

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 90010

After getting into the cars, we had a short ride to see a waterfall, it involved walking down to the bottom of a valley, it was only a small waterfall and the general opinion was the
walk up hill in the heat afterwards, probably wasn't worth it

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 90810

there were visible signs of hollow blacken pines that were burnt in the fire of 1985, fire breaks have been put in the hills since and a very large water tank was on top of the hill
for use incase of fires. Most of the pines in Golden Beach have recovered but there are still many places where they haven't

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 90511

Then we were off and going higher to the picnic area and I was now in the front seat lol

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 91610

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 91710

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 91810

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 92110

at these points, you just have to say to yourself, these guys have done this run hundreds of times and they always come back lol

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 92910

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 93010

but finally we get to the picnic area but we still not have reached the top

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 93110

but our first views of Golden Bay and Skala Potamia

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 93310

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 93710

The harbour of Skala Potamia in the corner

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 93810

so many pictures to take but which bush shall I pop behind, when you got to go, you got to go lol

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 93610

anyway it was picnic time and the guides were cooking food for us before we would make our final ascent

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 94510

There was a 10 bedroom apartment up here, I assume to hire out to walking parties but it was locked up

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 94610

we had salad, jacket potatoes and Greek sauces with as many kebabs as we liked, as you probaly noted earlier I was being careful with how much I ate, so just had two, then another
two but some of the slimmer guys had 8, so I was good only having 4. lol

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 94810

Then it was back into the 4X4 to the top of the world, the car was parked and we had a 30 metre climb to the top and we were there:D  

no they are not my legs lol

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 95210

There is a stone at the top which holds a book of the names of the people that have made it, what's this, Sir Edmund Hillary, Sherpa Tenzing and now Delboy lol

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 97610

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 96110

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 96210

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 96310

Mainland Greece is in the distance

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 96510

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 96410

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 96610

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 96710

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 96810

no idea what are the best shots, so a few of each

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 97210

Here I am at the top of the world

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 97310

I'd like to thank the other guys that made this climb with me, without them it would probably have been cancelled lol

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 95710

found a better way to get the panoramic pictures on

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 Truy

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 749z

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 Nujh

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 97410

Some leave stones in a pile, as a marker that they have been there

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 97510

Last couple of shots before we boarded the car to see a mountain lake

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 97710

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 97810

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 97910

Then it was back on the road, and going down

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 98110

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 98210

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 98310

Here we were at the lake, doesn't look like Greece does it

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 98510

The guide Nikos

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 98810

who took us up river to see a waterfall

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 98910

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 99210

and a friendly crow, but apparently today he was sulking lol

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 99010

We were returned to our apartments a 6pm, for me a very enjoyable trip

amazing to think we were able to be taken up there in a car

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 113610

and zooming in you can just see that little white box lol

Greece, the Island of Thassos, The Ipsarion Mountain climb by 4x4 113510
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