26 January ’05, Wednesday The Martyrs’ Monument and Clock from Church Tower
Just after 7am I got a cold hand on the back and the comforting words..”come on, we’ve got a train to catch in just over an hour”… The railway from Diakofto to Kalavryta took us on a wonderful ride through the Vouraikos Gorge. The train climbs over 700 meters (about 2100 feet) over 22 ½ km (13 miles) using a rack and pinion (cog) system for the steep climb. This route was built in 1885 and was a remarkable feet of engineering for it’s time. We crisscrossed the gorge quite often and most of the time the tracks (and the train) were right on the edge of a steep wall of rock with a rock strewn river far below. We not only took this train ride for the joy and experience of riding another narrow gage railway, but for the final destination…Kalavryta. Kalvryta has been written into the Greek history books for 3 different history making occasions. The first was 25 March 1821 when Bishop Germanos raised the flag over his monastery that launched the War of Independence here in Greece. The second, was when Harilaos Trikoupis commissioned the narrow gage railway to Kalvryta to provide access to the birth place of the new nation. The 3rd and by far the saddest is the Martyrs’ Monument. A huge white cross sits on a hillside overlooking the city of Kalvryta and this marks the site of the 1943 massacre of all males from the city, age’s 15 and up. On 13 December 1943 at 2:34pm the Nazis set fire to the town and rounded up all the men and boys, marched them up the hill and shot them in one of the worst atrocities of WWII. This was done as punishment for the resistance activities of the town toward the Germans. Today the main church in the center of town has the clock still in the tower, and it is still eternally showing “2:34”. Fortunately we chose Tuesday to make this trip, as today has turned out to be WET, WET. WET !!! Fact is, the management of the campground, came by about an hour ago and ask us to move to higher ground. As I looked out the door, I found that we had about 2 inches of standing water all around us and it was climbing…what is this ??? Even the wind is raising hell. After getting home this afternoon, Louise wanted to go out to the beach and watch the wave action from the wind. Well as we approached, the wind got so violent, that we had to leave and head for shelter of the van…it’s still blowing tonight…
Monday night I went to shut the sliding side door of “Bumble Bee”, and it didn’t shut the first time, so I tried again (maybe a little harder) and it shut…shut tight and we weren’t able to open it again until this afternoon, and only after paying $50 to the mechanic for doing such a good job. Tomorrow…heading over to Ancient Delphi
Just after 7am I got a cold hand on the back and the comforting words..”come on, we’ve got a train to catch in just over an hour”… The railway from Diakofto to Kalavryta took us on a wonderful ride through the Vouraikos Gorge. The train climbs over 700 meters (about 2100 feet) over 22 ½ km (13 miles) using a rack and pinion (cog) system for the steep climb. This route was built in 1885 and was a remarkable feet of engineering for it’s time. We crisscrossed the gorge quite often and most of the time the tracks (and the train) were right on the edge of a steep wall of rock with a rock strewn river far below. We not only took this train ride for the joy and experience of riding another narrow gage railway, but for the final destination…Kalavryta. Kalvryta has been written into the Greek history books for 3 different history making occasions. The first was 25 March 1821 when Bishop Germanos raised the flag over his monastery that launched the War of Independence here in Greece. The second, was when Harilaos Trikoupis commissioned the narrow gage railway to Kalvryta to provide access to the birth place of the new nation. The 3rd and by far the saddest is the Martyrs’ Monument. A huge white cross sits on a hillside overlooking the city of Kalvryta and this marks the site of the 1943 massacre of all males from the city, age’s 15 and up. On 13 December 1943 at 2:34pm the Nazis set fire to the town and rounded up all the men and boys, marched them up the hill and shot them in one of the worst atrocities of WWII. This was done as punishment for the resistance activities of the town toward the Germans. Today the main church in the center of town has the clock still in the tower, and it is still eternally showing “2:34”. Fortunately we chose Tuesday to make this trip, as today has turned out to be WET, WET. WET !!! Fact is, the management of the campground, came by about an hour ago and ask us to move to higher ground. As I looked out the door, I found that we had about 2 inches of standing water all around us and it was climbing…what is this ??? Even the wind is raising hell. After getting home this afternoon, Louise wanted to go out to the beach and watch the wave action from the wind. Well as we approached, the wind got so violent, that we had to leave and head for shelter of the van…it’s still blowing tonight…
Monday night I went to shut the sliding side door of “Bumble Bee”, and it didn’t shut the first time, so I tried again (maybe a little harder) and it shut…shut tight and we weren’t able to open it again until this afternoon, and only after paying $50 to the mechanic for doing such a good job. Tomorrow…heading over to Ancient Delphi