Wednesday 15 April 2015

Arachova




Perched on the southern slope of Mount Parnassus, at 970m above sea level, above the small river Pleistos, Arachova is a picturesque small town. It's located near Delphi and Distomo is also nearby. It's also very near the snowy peaks of Parnassus so ski enthusiasts come and stay. The battle of Arachova was one of the decisive Greek victories against the Turk occupiers in 1826.






Arachova is stunningly beautiful.




We spent half a day in the town





 
walked on the occasionally very busy main street
 
 
 

 
did some window shopping
 
 
 
 

 
which included a lot of local produce and handicrafts
 
 
 
 

 
and admired the architecture which is predominantly traditional.
 
 
 
 
 
The houses are almost exclusively made out of the local stone
 
 
 
 
 
with wrought iron balconies
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Because the town is built on the side of the mountain
 
 
 
 

 
most streets are so steep that they have steps
 
 
 
 
 
going up
 
 
 
 

 
or down.
 
 
 
 
 
The village square is very picturesque
 
 
 
 
 
and is surrounded by cafeterias
 
 
 
 
 
We spent a very pleasant hour here drinking fresh orange juice and basking in the sun
 
 
 
 
 
the mulberry trees must provide wonderfully cool shade in the summer.
 
 
 
 

 
We visited the Ethnographic Museum
 
 
 


and looked at the traditional weaving looms. This one is from the middle of the 19th century





and this is an ancient Greek one. This is the kind of loom that Penelope used to weave the shroud while waiting for Odysseus to return home.





Looking closer.




Weaving classes are available at the Museum - we visited the classroom which had six looms in it.



  

2 comments:

  1. How fascinating. We did not see any sign of a museum in 1985, but we did buy two locally woven bedcovers which we still use.

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    1. I wondered if you'd visited the museum Olga, as I was sure it would interest you. It's a wonderful resource: there was one more classroom where all kinds of classes were being held: I wished there was something like this on my doorstep.

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