Salakos to Saint Nikolaos, Fountoukli
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Tuesday 7 February 2023
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Salakos to the church of Saint Nikolaos, Fountoukli
A straight forward walk along broad tracks that directly link Salakos and the area of Fountoukli
This extensive but easy going hike follows a track through the hills from the village of Salakos to the medieval church of Saint Nikolaos, Fountoukli (Ιερός Ναός Αγίου Νικολάου Φουντουκλί)
which is renowned for its medieval interior artwork. There is a Taverna close to church which is open out of season (September to May) and makes a perfect place for refreshment.
Salakos to the church of Saint Nikolaos, Fountoukli - Essential Information
Walk Statistics (calculated from GPX):
- Start location: Salakos
- Distance: km ( miles)
- Total Gain: metre ( ft)
- Total Descent: metre ( ft)
- Min Height: metre ( ft)
- Max Height: metre ( ft)
- Walk Time:
- Walk Grade: Moderate
- Terrain: Footpath, Track
Maps:
The following maps and services can assist in navigating this route. There are links to printed maps and links to downloadable GPX route data for importing into navigational software and apps.
- GPX Route File
Route Verification Details
- Date of Walk: 02/10/2022
- Walk Time: 08:30:00 to 16:00:00
- Walkers: Griff, Kat
- Weather Conditions: Overcast but very warm to start, the skies clearing to bring a hot afternoon
Walk Notes
This walk follows a well defined track through the hills east of Salakos. The terrain roughly hugs the contours so there is little in the way of climbing other than the natural dips and inclines of the broad unmade track. The going is mostly easy on the rough surface but there are places where the track is strewn with rocky debris with ruts that have been gouged out by winter rains.
The total distance there and back is approximately 15km, with the return journey opting for an alternative route on the last section before Salakos. The OSM map indicates a second alternative path which we did consider but the access to this from the eastern side seemed to have been blocked by debris from winter storms.
The GPX route that is offered here is the full, a there and back plot.
The route starts at the Hotel Nymph almost at the end of the village of Salakos, on the main thoroughfare that heads towards the hills of Profitis Ilias. At this point a lane leads off to the left from the main road and it is this fork in the road that we begin our expedition. This is a direct route to the Nymph Springs as which are a wondrous sight to behold and are fully described in the Butterfly River Walk. The track that runs through the springs area is then followed out into the countryside where there is a mix of woodland and open areas. To the right the hills climb steeply upward. To the left, where the trees are thinned, there are panoramas of the hills and valleys with the distant coastline making a distinctive backdrop to it all.
The going is easy and there is plenty to feast ones eyes upon as the path twists and winds around the hills. We started this expedition fairly early, at around 8.30 to take advantage of the cooler air. The morning started with promising sunshine but by the time we started out an increasing haze developed which filtered out the severity of the sun. Without a doubt it was still very warm and the haze was a blessing.
There is plenty to see along this route with regards to wildlife, flora and fauna. The sides of the track are littered with wild herbs, including copious amounts of wild sage (Salvia fruiticosa) with its distinctive long crinkly leaves that can be used to make a herbal tea, reputedly good for soothing sore mouths and throats. Its taste is said to resemble a blend of mint, chamomile and citrus.
Also encountered on this occasion were some Almond leaved pear trees (Pyrus spinosa) with their fruits bountiful. This is a member of the rose family and the fruits can be harvested for food although the seeds do contain cyanide compounds as do many fruit seeds.
At one point, as we turned a corner to face a short uphill climb, we were greeted by a large stag deer that came hurtling down towards us at a rate of knots. As soon as his eyes met ours, he made what can only be classed as a hand brake turn, and shot off into the undergrowth leaving nothing but a cloud of dust and tumbling gravel as evidence that he had been there. We had no chance to shoot a picture of this magnificent beast, only a memory that we will never forget. It has to be said that no matter where you are in the world, you rarely see full grown stag deers do hand brake turns.
Further along the path at a point where the track took a sharp bend around to the left, under a tall rocky cliff we encounter a concrete structure, partially visible as it is mostly underground. An entrance circles round and down into its stark confines, devoid of anything of note. It is like a sunken British pillbox, even down to graffiti daubed across its concrete walls. Whether it was an old WWII bunker is unknown, but it suspiciously looked to be something of this kind. The Italians held the island of Rhodes under Mussolini until September 1943 when the Germans took the island. There were certainly soldiers in this area as above this is the mountain of Profitis Ilias where Mussolini's villa is located which includes what can only be described as barracks. The strategic position of this bunker, hidden by the corner of the track and providing a broad panorama of the land across to the coast does suggest that this was some kind of military installation. But who knows, this is merely guesswork by two uniformed passers by.
Further along the track is a fenced smallholding, with a large ramshackle barn. The fence is no more than pallets stood nearly vertical against any prop that can be forced into the ground, many posts being no more than lifeless saplings. A large stone boulder sits just inside the compound. Such boulders can frequently be seen around this track, and guesswork is that they have tumbled down from the cliffs and hills by earth tremors or brought down with heavy storms. Flowing water can easily lift such heavy items as can be seen in the various gullies along the route where it is obvious that cascading storm water has brought down trees, debris and rocks of all sizes. In some places such flows have crossed the track and the edge is eroded away from where the waters have careered further down the hillside
Continuing on, we pass a group of hikers being led by a guide. They offer us a greeting in English and their accent sounds distinctly German. Just beyond passing this congregation of adventurers we came to the fenced compound that holds Taverna Fountoukli, a large Greek taverna with views across the valleys below. Following the fence line of the compound we soon stumbled upon the owner who came out to speak with us. The taverna only opens out of season and caters for the local Greek people. He welcomed us to come back at midday when he would be open. This was ideal as it gave us an hour and a half to take in the chapel before return for some lunch.
As the track bends around from the taverna and leads up to the road there is an area with several modern house ruins. Judging by the state of these it may have been the result of a fire but, once again, that is guesswork. Certainly the Greek islands have had more than their fair share of forest wildfires in recent times.
The track emerges onto the road that links Profitis Ilias and Eloeousa and the church of Saint Nikolaos, Fountoukli is just a hundred metres or so along this quiet but modern highway. The church is within a small compound bordered by parkland where ancient trees are given room to live, their knotty old trunks giving a sense of their age. On the opposite side of the road is small a parking area with water fountain where a cobbled mosaic depicts two deer. The whole area is very welcoming and certainly somewhere one can spend time and relax.
Although the church is associated with the village of Dimilia, the name Fountoukli is presumably the area it is located in and translated literally means hazelnut
. Whether this is due to the predominance of such trees in the area is not known, there is certainly a lot of woodland so this is a possibility although none were noticeably hazel.
The church compound is accessed through a gate and its inner confines are open to the public through an old wooden door. The stone building holds a single room with four apses and is topped by a dome that is itself topped with a cross. The roof is made of pantiles and a single bell is held in a simple bell tower above the main door. Within this ancient wonder a plethora of thin, tall dedication candles burn atop a table, providing subtle light that reveals the amazing medieval artwork that covers every inch of the walls and ceilings. Faded with age it is nonetheless impressive and one cannot help but stand there taking it all in, mesmerized by the history. The artwork was reputedly painted during the late 15th century although a rather unorthodox restoration, that included some repainting, was undertaken by the Italian Archaeological Service around the time of WWII.
I am no expert on iconography but from what I have gleaned from various sources are that the frescos include depictions Saint Pachomius, the founder of Christian monasticism, Saint Nicholas the miracle worker of Myra, Saint Peter of Alexandria and Saint Mary of Egypt plus numerous other saints. Among these depictions of glorified souls, on the south wall of the western niche, are portraits of Nicholaos Vardoanis who held the title of Pansevastos Logothetis and was the founder of the church. His wife Eudocia is to one side and their three children, Mary, Michael and George are on the other side. An inscription details that the three children succumbed to the plague in the year 7006 which would be from the Byzantine calendar where year one is the Byzantine defined year of creation. This year translates as AD1497/8 in the modern Gregorian calendar and it is thought that the church was probably constructed around this time as a dedication to their departed offspring. Ref.
Having spent quite some time viewing both the interior and exterior of the church, as well as investigating the surrounding parkland we adjourned to sit down under the shade of a tree adjacent to the water fountain which flows into a broad stone basin. Presumably this is fresh spring water and after watching a local family top their bottles up from this, we did the same, doing battles with a family of wasps who indignantly assumed that the water was theirs and not for sharing.
Cool refreshing spring water, there is nothing better, supping on this and watching the world go by. This area is a bit of a tourist hotspot and there was a steady stream of cars pull up, occupants march into the church, march back out and continue onwards on their sightseeing tours, another sight ticked off of their itinerary. It has to be said that you really do need more time to take all this in, to let ones mind wander and wonder at the marvels, to let the questions and queries of what is brought to your eyes attention percolate in ones brain. A quick visit is not enough, it will be forgotten about and filed away with the photo album.
There is a small piece of parkland behind the fountain which provides a path back to the track without having to follow the road. It is no shortcut, just more pleasant than wandering a hundred yards along asphalt. Within this parkland of old gnarled shady trees and decaying stone features and decaying steps that were mutating back into nature, we tippy-toed past two peacocks. Keeping quiet in order to steal a photo of these colourful birds. The peacocks obliged by tippy-toeing on their own way without bothering about these old humans with phone cameras. If humans were more beautiful creatures then I guess peacocks would have invented mobile phone cameras way before us. You see us humans may be technologically clever but we certainly dont match the beuty of a peacock.
The Taverna Fountoukli is signposted from the road. A rustic wooden signpost points down the track and a black board in the shape of a heart details in both Greek and English Open weekends and holidays, September to May
. The taverna is a modern but rustic building superbly located in the countryside with rustic wooden gates at the main entrance. We were the first customers of the day and after ordering drinks from the young waitress, she then returned with the owner who would translate from the Greek menu. We knew what we wanted which was just a simple meze with a Greek Salad and we were offered recommendations for the dishes to be included in the meze.
The owner acknowledged that we had also requested a Greek Salad but he responded by telling us that there is no such thing as a Greek Salad but he would make something similar, which it has to be said was perfect for the occasion. Now this remark obviously piqued my curiosity and made me wonder if this ubiquitous 'Greek' dish is merely there for us, the tourists. From a little research it seems that the so called Greek Salad is known as Horiatiki, which means village or peasant salad. But there is more to this. There appears to be more than several references across the webosphere to Horiatiki being invented by restaurant owners in Athens during the 1960s. At the time a straight forward regular tomato-cucumber salad had a price set by Government legislation. However a loophole in the law allowed any addition to the basic salad to be charged independently. The first enterprising restaurateur to discover this loophole found that he could circumvent the law by simply adding a block of feta cheese which enabled him to set his own price for the salad. The practice quickly caught on and soon the whole of Greece and its islands followed suit with the so called Greek Salad which is just a legal loophole and not a traditional dish. How true this story is, we shall probably never know but there you go, there is no such thing as a Greek Salad just as the owner of the Taverna Fountoukli told us.
So there we sat, chilled out, slowly eating the food, supping ice cold Zythos, a local Rhodian beer, and admiring the fantastic views across the valleys. There was even a rock chair that faced the panormas and I have to admit that I did jump into it and had a little rock like a true old timer. Perfect in every way.
We reluctantly left the taverna to return back to Salakos. As we wandered out of the compound we passed a crude rustic wooden ladder, the rungs of which were written pieces if simple advice. The best of these was If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there
. Very true indeed.
The route of our return journey was retracing the steps that we came, seeing things from the opposite direction which always reveals sights missed on the outward journey. About two thirds away along the track we then took an alternative route on a path that meanders through the woodland which was well worth discovering. The skies had now cleared of haze and were deep blue with an oppressive sun beating down so the plentiful shade along this alternative path was very welcome.
The path emerges out onto the main track by the chapel of Saint Nicholas. A stone plaque is inscribed with the words ΚΑΤΑΣΚΕΥΗ ΔΑΠΕΔΟΥ ΕΙΣ ΜΝΗΜΗ ΝΙΚΟΛΑΟΥ ΧΩΡΕΥΤΗ 10-2-2004
which roughly translates as BUILT IN MEMORY OF NIKOLAOS CHOREFTIS 10-2-2004
. I cannot find any more details about Nikolaos.
The conclusion of this walk is clear. Nearly 15km may sound a long way in the Rhodian heat, but taking ones time and having breaks along the way make this an easy going route. A whole day spent exploring and the time just seeped away. The day ended with a meal and wine at the Piazza Taverna on the Salakos village square, where a party of Greek revellers were singing traditional Greek folk songs at the taverna opposite. The Piazza owner donated them a bottle of Ouzo and told us about the songs they were singing, stating they were old Cretan songs which every Greek knows. A great end to the day and this was the second evening spent in Salakos, its charm hypnotic and luring.
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Last Updated: 2023-02-07
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