The train

From shore to snow. The more the inclination of the train tracks, the more the train sharpens its teeth. And when the ascent begins, the Odontotos shows its strength, climbing up the mountain side with an inclination of 17,5 %, swallowing kilometers. Since 1896, the train covers a journey of 22.350 meters in length and 750 meters altitude, travelling from the seaside of Diakopto area to the snowy mountainous village of Kalavryta, on a gauge just 75 centimeters wide, marking the narrowest rack railway in the world.

120 years, and still young! The construction of the railway started in 1889 by the government of Charilaos Trikoupis, prime minister of Greece at the time, as part of his vision for a railway junction between Diacopto and Tripoli. Unfortunately the difficulties were huge as the money wasn’t enough to cover the expenses. The train tracks reached only Kalavryta. The first scheduled journey of Odontotos in the gorge was in 1896 having King George the 1st as its first passenger. Odontotos was mainly used as a mean of transport for people, merchandise and often as a channel of hope and escape. The Odontotos rack railway, famous and renewed, operates currently as a touristic attraction for a dreamy passage through the gorge.

Three generations, three seasons. The first generation of trains were steam engines, widely known as Mountzouris, where launched in 1891 with four French steam locomotive engines “A. ES. CAIL”, using saturated steam, followed in 1952 by a German engine and another Greek one (SPAP) in 1954. The second generation of trains were diesel engines which included three French BILLARD engines in 1959 and three more DECAUVILLE in 1967, which extremely reduced the journey’s time from two and a half hours to 85’ minutes. In 2003 a major renovation of the network and the infrastructure, took place suggesting a new modern era of advanced technology and security with the introduction of the Swiss STADLER railcars, offering 67’ minutes of travelling magic.

The journey

Diakopto is the starting point of our journey, the cheerful home of Dionysis Papagiannopoulos, a beautiful town in the Aigialeia Municipality with an impressive mating between sea and mountain. A serene city with a mild climate, surrends to the sea breeze and the scents of citrus trees. Starting point of the Odontotos as also many trips to the other parts of the Aigialeia region full of unexpected experiences of nature, culture, tradition, history, products, taste and enjoyment (Aliki, Tsivlou lake, Trapeza, Zarouchla, Fteri, Lakka, Taxiarches, Tripiti, Agia Triada, the ancient theater in Aigeira, Plataniotisa, museums, wine roads, the tree of Pausanias, Oinoxeneia festival).

The Vouraikos gorge is our route. Its many attributes, creates a spectacular narrative: The beautiful gorge of Vouraikos (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), with a protected and particularly valuable flora and fauna (Natura 2000 areas), part of the National Park of Helmos-Vouraikos, part of Geopark Helmos-Vouraikos (recently integrated into the European list and the Unesco Geopark international directory), part of the production areas of the finest products PDO Vostitsa raisin and PDO Roditis wine, ascends from the distant past (1896) the unique Odontotos train in parallel with the European Path E4 (major hiking paths), offering a double crossing adventurous experience, either on foot or by the rail.

Kalavryta is the end of the journey, the mountainous historical center of the region. Proud as it was the headquarters of Frankish barony, headquarters of Byzantine Despotato, starting point of the uprising (1770) and national revolution (1821 Agia Lavra) but also mourns when slaughtered and burned by German troops in the holocaust of December ’43. A martyrs village, but its beauty never dies, lying there all the seasons of the year, creating a top tourist choice along with the other attractions of the Kalavryta Municipality (Agia Lavra, Mega Spilaion, Ski center, Planitero, Kertezi, Lakes Cave, Pausanias vine, Ladonas, Leontio, Ancient Loussoi, Kleitor and Psofida).

The festivities

May 2017

Artists find inspiration by the route Diakopto – Kalavrita and the Vouraikos canyon, where nature is art and history unfolds, where technology does miracles and the soul is at peace.

The place, where Giannis Spiropoulos, a “classic of the abstract”, produced his first paintings, and Dionisis Papagiannopoulos, “the prince of theater and cinema”, debuted at the school-theater.  This is Vouraikos canyon, the place where contemporary artists find their inspiration.

Is it the sound of the canyon? Is it the train whistle?

Thus, we celebrate the inspiring canyon with wonderful events for the train, for the environment and for the art, on May 2017 at Vouraikos with Odontotos.

Programme

Information

Contact

Promotional material

Video-journey

Contact details

Tel. DI.Κ.ΕP. Aigialeias +30 26910.28210, 68308 | Mon-Fri 09:00-16:00

E-mail ensirmo ( at ) gmail ( dot ) com

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Design and implementation: DI.Κ.ΕP. Aigialeias, Kalavrita Municipality