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.