'Apollo Trails' extends footpath network and offers new experiences
- Written by E.Tsiliopoulos
The footpath network "Apollo Trails" based around the village Abelionas, on the borders of Arcadia, Ilia and Messinia, is to be extended in a bid to also extend the tourist season in this mountainous area of the Peloponnese.
According to an announcement, this is an initiative launched by the boutique hotel Abeliona Retreat and forms part of the effort to promote alternative tourism throughout the year, offering inhabitants of the villages in the network a change to get some practical insights into the potential locked inside the 'treasures' that make up their natural and cultural landscape.
The Apollo Trails footpaths are part of a broader sustainable growth policy for the area and are addressed to travellers with environmental concerns, who seek "transformative" experiences as part of their personal development.
The Apollo Trails routes link the Temple of Epicurean Apollo with the remains of the ancient sanctuary of Pan, the Ash Altar of Zeus on the top of Mount Lykaion and the sources of the River Neda, up to the extraordinary stone threshing floors and the old water mills. Routes that follow the water and the seasons through the magnificent chestnut forest, the oak threes, the old cultivations and the creeks with the centuries-old plane trees.
