Some history
Arahthos river, during the 4 centuries of Turkish occupation of Greece (1453-1821), for certain periods, had become the natural border between the two nations. The stone bridges of Plaka and Arta, were the official gateways and custom authorities were based beside Arta's bridge.
Bridge of Arta (picture on the right), is also the most famous among old stone bridges, because of a traditional history about its building. Legend says, that the bridge, for mysterious reason, could not stand. 40 builders with 80 helpers, were building the bridge during the day and in the night, it would always collapse. They only managed to finish it, by sacrifising head worker's beautiful wife, building her alive into the main foot of the bridge. They asked her, to go down inside, to reach her husband's watch, he accidentally dropped inside and was very unhappy about it. When she went down, the workers started to build the opening and trapped her inside. The bridge stood still that night and still stands until our days.
Some geography
Arahthos river in western Greece, flows from North to South. It drains a very wide area, in south Pindos, to reach sea, at the town of Arta. Its main tributaries are Metsovitikos in the north east, flowing from Metsovo range, joining Arahthos after Baldouma bridge and Kalaritikos in the east, joining before Ampelohori bridge.
Metsovitikos river, occasionally, take water from Aoos reservoir, through a diversion tunnel take out, at Mikro Peristeri. There are not standard or scheduled dam releases, officialy reported, so we should always take into account, a sudden rise of the flow in Arahthos, caused by a dam release, far away in Aoos basin.
Many smaller tributaries add their flows to form a wide, big volume river, running through series of remote gorges, offering only a few access points, like the bridge near Krapsi (section 1), the bridge near Harokopi (section 2), the bridge near Ampelohori (section 3), the bridge of Plaka (section 4) and the bridge of Tzaris at Kardabo, near Skoupa (take out of section 4). After that point, the river flattens a lot, approaching the dam reservoir at Rodavgi.
Another dam is designed in Agios Nikolaos, at section 4.
Highlights of the area
Local sightseeings are the villages of Kalarites and Sirako, two of the most beautiful villages in Tzoumerka range, with characteristic architecture.
Kipinas monastery, a very small chappel, firmly nested into the rocks, 20m over the road. Notice the underground river in the foot of the rocky wall.
Kataraktis and Matsouki villages are also known of their big waterfalls. Kataraktis especially, is a must visit during the spring.
Kipinas monastery and the waterfalls of Kataraktis and Matsouki
View a detailed map of the area at Greeklandscapes.com, a site with links to downloadable maps of Greece.
More pages about Arahthos:
Arahthos river. History, Geography & Sightseeing
