Elati Pertouli

Elati Pertouli is the pair of mountain villages above Trikala in Thessaly, Elati on the slopes of Koziakas and Pertouli on its meadows, set in fir forests on the way from Pyli into the Pindus. The trip is one of the Greece Tours on Greece Ville.

This post covers what is on sale, where the villages lie, Elati, Pertouli, the forests, Pyli and Porta Panagia, Neraidochori, the rivers and monasteries nearby and the questions that come up before booking.

 

What is Elati Pertouli?

Elati Pertouli is the pair of mountain villages, Elati and Pertouli, in the Pindus range of the Trikala regional unit in Thessaly. Forest with springs and meadows, a small ski area, and bridges and monasteries on the road from Pyli shape the area.

Elati lies in the south part of the Pindos chain. Pertouli stands on the central part of the same range, at 1,150 metres, and both villages belong to the mountain west of the regional unit.

The Trikala regional unit names Elati, Pertouli and the Pertouli Ski Center among the tourist destinations of the south Pindus. The same list adds the stone bridge of Pyli and the basilica of Porta Panagia.

Elati serves as the seat of Aithikes, a municipal unit that has formed part of the municipality of Pyli since the 2011 reform. Neraidochori, a third village close to Pertouli, belongs to the same unit.

In spring and summer, Elati Pertouli paths run through forest with springs and meadows. Long forest roads also carry cars, motorcycles, mountain bicycles and riders on horseback, and a small ski centre opens in winter.

The road from Trikala to Elati passes the church of Porta Panagia in Pyli. Close by, the arched stone bridge over the Portaikos river carries the old crossing into the mountains.

• Elati: The village heads the Aithikes municipal unit and was known as Tyrna in the past.
• Pertouli: This small mountain village lies within the old province of Trikala.
• Neraidochori: The village stands at 1,100 metres, only 2.5 km from Pertouli.
• Pyli: The town sits where the Pindos mountain line begins, at the mouth of a gorge.

The sections below follow Elati Pertouli from its place on the map and its villages to its forests, the town of Pyli, the rivers and the monasteries of the area.

Which Elati Pertouli tours are on sale?

Elati Pertouli has no tour on sale that names it. No listed format names Elati, Pertouli, Pyli or Neraidochori, so the boxes on this page show the nearest listed formats: Meteora tours from Trikala and Kalambaka, not tours of Elati or Pertouli themselves.

A check of the tour listings found no product with Elati, Pertouli, Pyli or Neraidochori in its title. For that reason, none of the boxes on this page is a tour of the Elati Pertouli area.

The nearest formats on sale are Meteora tours that start from or pass through Trikala and Kalambaka. None of their titles names a village of the Pindus range west of Trikala.

One format is a Meteora hike with a local, with an optional pick-up from Kalambaka, Trikala or Kastraki. Its title names Meteora and these three places only, not the mountain villages.

Two formats are day trips to Meteora from Thessaloniki, one in a small group and one that adds Trikala. A third leaves from Athens and adds a sunset, caves, a stop by the sea and lunch.

Each of these formats belongs to Meteora and the plain around Trikala, not to Elati Pertouli. None of the four claims to be an Elati or Pertouli tour, and this page presents none as one.

• Village tours: No tour on sale names Elati, Pertouli, Pyli or Neraidochori in its title.
• Meteora hike: A walk with a local at Meteora offers pick-up from Kalambaka, Trikala or Kastraki.
• Trikala day out: A trip from Thessaloniki joins the Meteora monasteries with the city of Trikala.
• Athens day out: A trip from Athens pairs Meteora with caves, a sunset, a stop by the sea and lunch.

The tour cards and availability boxes on this page list live dates for each format. The Meteora day trip from Athens page covers the Athens format in full.

Where is Elati Pertouli?

Elati Pertouli lies in the south and central Pindus, in the west of the Trikala regional unit in Thessaly. Elati stands 32 km from Trikala city, and the road to the villages passes Pyli, below the Itamos and Koziakas mountains.

The Trikala regional unit forms the northwestern part of Thessaly. Karditsa borders it to the south, Arta to the southwest, Ioannina to the west, Grevena to the north and Larissa to the east.

The southeastern part of the unit belongs to the Thessalian Plain, while the forested Pindus range dominates the west. Elati Pertouli sits on that western, mountain side, above the plain and the city.

The Pindus runs for roughly 160 km and peaks at 2,637 metres on Mount Smolikas. Since it runs north to south along much of mainland Greece, it carries the nickname the spine of Greece.

A praise of St Vissarion, drafted in 1552 by Pahomios Rousanos, was later put into plainer Greek by Anastasios Gordios. His version equates the Greek name Pindos with the name Metzovon.

A Koziakas municipal unit, named after the mountain, lies inside the municipality of Trikala. It covers 59.193 square kilometres, counted 1,894 residents in 2021 and once had its seat in Prinos.

• Climate: Summers in the regional unit are hot and winters cold, with temperate conditions in the mountains.
• Northern ranges: Chasia and Antichasia form the mountains in the north of the regional unit.
• Population: Epirotes, Roumeliotes and Vlachs form the main groups of the Pindus range.
• Prefecture: Trikala first became a prefecture in 1882 and turned into a regional unit in 2011.

Across the Pindus, a traditional pastoral economy rested on sheep raised by Sarakatsani and Aromanian shepherds. That mountain world forms the wider setting of Elati Pertouli and its villages.

What is the village of Elati in Elati Pertouli?

Elati Pertouli takes its first name from Elati, a village of the Trikala regional unit once called Tyrna. It lies in the south part of the Pindos chain, 32 km from Trikala city, and serves as the seat of the Aithikes municipal unit.

Tradition holds that Elati was settled shortly after Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Empire. Its present site is fairly new, since the earlier village stood further west, close to the river.

In 1943, during the German occupation of Greece, the German Army burned the village down. The present Elati stands east of that earlier site, which had lain near the river before the fire.

Aithikes, the municipal unit seated in Elati, takes its name from the ancient city of Aethikia and its people, the Aethikes. The unit covers 279.825 square kilometres and counted 1,200 residents in 2021.

The rivers around Elati Pertouli hold cold, clear water. Local records note fishing and swimming in these streams, and the flora of the area varies greatly from place to place.

The wider Elati area holds a long list of monasteries. Two of them, Gouras Monastery and Agiou Vissarionos Monastery, still operate today, and both stand near the town of Pyli.

• Old name: Before it took its present name, Elati was known as Tyrna.
• Climbing: Three climbing stages stand at the Kokkinos Braxos site close to the village.
• Shelter: The Xatzipetros shelter below Koziaka, the highest peak, takes up to 20 people.
• Deserted monasteries: Empty monasteries of the area stand near Neraidochori, Pyrra, Desi and Gardiki.

From Elati, the road runs 7 km to the small ski centre on the way to Pertouli, the second village of Elati Pertouli and the subject of the next section.

What is Pertouli in Elati Pertouli?

Elati Pertouli takes its second name from Pertouli, a small mountain village of the Trikala area at 1,150 metres on the central Pindos. Pertouli is also known for the nearby Pertouli Ski Center, which serves snow sports fans in central Greece.

Pertouli lies within the old province of Trikala, on the central part of the Pindos mountain range. Its altitude of 1,150 metres places it close to the height of the ski runs above it.

The ski resort counts as a relatively small one. Its low altitude has led to unreliable snow conditions in recent winters, since even the top of the runs stays below 1,400 metres.

The small ski centre lies 7 km outside Elati on the road to Pertouli and opens in winter. A stamina-ski course also serves the area, alongside the downhill runs of Elati Pertouli.

The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki keeps one of its two forest reserves on the Pindus mountain range. That reserve lies at 1,100 to 1,200 metres, the same band of altitude as Pertouli village.

The Pindus reserve covers about 33 square kilometres. The Faculty of Forestry and Natural Environment uses it for research and student training, and special buildings inside let staff and students stay overnight.

• Lowest point: The Pertouli ski runs start at 1,170 metres above sea level.
• Top point: The highest point of the ski area reaches 1,340 metres.
• Longest run: The longest run of the resort measures 1,500 metres.
• Reserves: The two university forest reserves cover 88 square kilometres in total.

The Pertouli ski area of Elati Pertouli sits 7 km from Elati and 5 km from Neraidochori, the village that lies only 2.5 km from Pertouli itself.

Which forests surround Elati Pertouli?

Elati Pertouli lies in the Pindus Mountains mixed forests, an ecoregion where Greek fir, black pine and Balkan fir dominate the conifer belt. Broadleaf woods with deciduous oaks cover the lower slopes, and the forests around Elati hold springs and meadows.

The Pindus range carries two main forest zones. A conifer zone, with a subspecies of Austrian pine and the endemic Greek fir, covers the high ground, while mixed broadleaf forest fills the valleys and canyons.

Greek fir, Abies cephalonica, reaches 25 to 35 metres, rarely 40, with a trunk up to 1 metre across. It occurs at 900 to 1,700 metres, where rainfall tops 1,000 millimetres.

Its flat needles measure 1.5 to 3.0 cm, glossy dark green above with two blue-white bands below. The cones reach 10 to 20 cm long and break apart when ripe to free the seeds.

In the Pindus of northern Greece, Greek fir merges with the closely related Bulgarian fir. Across the ecoregion, it shares the conifer forests between 1,200 and 2,500 metres with black pine and Balkan fir.

Drought and heat have weakened Greek fir in recent years, leaving trees open to wood-boring beetles. Die-offs have been reported in the Peloponnese, the Ionian Islands and the mountains of the Greek mainland.

• Ecoregion size: The Pindus Mountains mixed forests cover 39,500 square kilometres across Greece, Albania and North Macedonia.
• Tree line: Juniperus foetidissima grows widely near the upper limit of the forest.
• Large mammals: Brown bear, grey wolf, golden jackal and Balkan lynx are native to the ecoregion.
• Local wildlife: Pheasants, partridges, woodcocks, hares, roe deer, bears and wolves live in the Elati forest.

Lower down, plane trees line the river at Pyli and give shade in summer, a contrast with the high conifer forests that cover the slopes of Elati Pertouli.

What is Pyli on the road to Elati Pertouli?

Elati Pertouli is reached through Pyli, a town of about 4,000 people at the foot of Mount Itamos and Mount Koziakas. Pyli marks the entrance to a gorge and the start of the Pindos mountain line, on the Portaikos river.

The name Pyli means gate, like Porta, the older name of the town, and both names come from the nearby pass. Pausanias recorded the site as the Great Gates, a natural passage between Epirus and Thessaly.

Alexander the Great entered Thessaly through Pyli, and Philip V of Macedon visited later. The castle of Athinaion served as an outpost over the plains, and Meteora stands visible from it on a clear day.

Tradition holds that Cosmas of Aetolia cursed the town, then called Porta, when its people ignored his teaching. The residents moved from the north bank of the Portaikos to the south bank, where Pyli stands today.

Porta Panagia church stands on the north bank, among the ruins of Megale Porta, which the Ottomans razed in 1822. It served as the katholikon of a monastery of the Unconquerable Panagia.

A fire in 1855 destroyed the bulk of its original interior decoration. The marble templon survived, and two mosaics in the east of the church show full-length figures of Christ and the Theotokos Brephokratousa.

• Portaikos Bridge: Saint Bessarion, Metropolitan of Larissa, built this Ottoman-era stone bridge near Pyli.
• Old link: Until 1936, the bridge was the only way between the Thessalian plain and the Pindus villages.
• Bridge legend: Tradition holds that a bear carried materials and led the master builder to a buried treasure.
• Plane tree: An old plane tree burned by the army of Ali Pasha still survives in the town.

Pyli also acts as the trade and school centre for the mountain villages to its west. The Meteora sunset tour page covers the other main sight of the Trikala regional unit.

What is Neraidochori near Elati Pertouli?

Elati Pertouli has a third village in Neraidochori, a small mountain village of the Aithikes municipal unit at 1,100 metres on the central Pindus. It lies only 2.5 km from Pertouli and 5 km from the nearby Pertouli ski resort.

Neraidochori belongs to the Trikala regional unit and shares its municipal unit with Elati, the seat of Aithikes. Since the 2011 local government reform, that unit has formed part of the municipality of Pyli.

The village holds a number of Byzantine monuments, and a stone bridge spans the river there. Its altitude of 1,100 metres falls inside the 900 to 1,700 metre band where Greek fir occurs.

The city of Trikala counts Neraidochori, Elati, Pertouli and the Pertouli Ski Center among the nearby day-trip destinations of the south Pindus, along with the stone bridge and waterfall of Palaiokarya.

Gardiki, another village of the Aithikes unit, occupies the site of the ancient town of Pelinna. The town faded after the early Byzantine period and returned under the name Gardiki in the 11th century.

Gardiki keeps a ruined three-aisled basilica of St Paraskevi from the 14th century. Aromanian, or Vlach, Greeks settled the area in the late medieval and Ottoman periods and remain the main group of the village.

• Palaiochori: The Gardiki community also takes in the settlement of Palaiochori.
• Gardiki census: The 2021 census recorded 134 residents in the community of Gardiki.
• Bishopric: Gardiki served as an episcopal see under the Metropolis of Larissa from the 11th century.
• Neraida: A different village, Neraida, forms its own municipal unit of Pyli and is a separate place.

Neraidochori, Elati and Pertouli together form the core of Elati Pertouli, three mountain villages that stand on the Pindus within the Trikala regional unit of Thessaly, west of Pyli.

Which rivers and monasteries lie near Elati Pertouli?

Elati Pertouli has two river systems around it: the Portaikos, a tributary of the Pineios, runs through Pyli, and the Aspropotamos feeds the Achelous in the far west of the regional unit. Dousiko and Goura are the working monasteries near Pyli.

The Achelous runs 220 km and rises at about 2,000 metres on Mount Lakmos, near Anthousa, in the westernmost part of the unit. One of its first tributaries is the Aspropotamos, the white river.

The Achelous forms part of the line between Arta and Trikala, which is also the border of Epirus and Thessaly. Rafting takes place on the river in spring, on Class 2 to 3 passages.

A diversion plan for the Achelous calls for four dams, at Sykia, Mesochora, Mouzaki and Pyli, with a channel of 17.4 km. Work has stalled more than once over environmental and social concerns.

The monastery of St Vissarion, the Dousikou Monastery, stands on Mount Koziakas and bars women from entry. Saint Bessarion and his brother Ignatius, Bishop of Kappoua and Fanari, re-founded it between 1527 and 1535.

Its present church dates from 1557, built under his nephew Neophytus II, and the painter George from Constantinople finished the icons that November. The head of Saint Bessarion rests in the monastery as a relic.

• Goura: The women’s monastery of the Theotokos at Goura stands at 640 metres on Mount Itamos, above Pyli.
• Goura founding: Funds from the archon Dimakis, of Chaliki in the Aspropotamos area, paid for its foundation in 1743.
• Library: The Dousiko library held important manuscripts, and the National Library of Greece now holds the bulk of them.
• Wartime: Dousiko was bombed twice in 1943, by Italian and by German forces.

The Aspropotamos municipal unit, with its seat in Kallirroi, lies 40 km west of Trikala and 20 km southeast of Metsovo, the town covered on the Metsovo tour page.

What do travellers ask about Elati Pertouli?

Elati Pertouli raises recurring questions about the ski area, the distance from Trikala, the wildlife of the local forests and the old stone bridge near Pyli. The short answers below draw on the same sources as the nine sections above.

Does Elati Pertouli have a ski area?

Yes. Elati Pertouli has a small ski centre 7 km outside Elati on the road to Pertouli. Its runs start at 1,170 metres and reach 1,340 metres, and the longest run covers 1,500 metres. Low altitude has made snow conditions at the resort unreliable in recent winters.

How far is Elati Pertouli from Trikala?

Elati lies 32 km from the city of Trikala, in the south part of the Pindos chain. The road to Elati Pertouli passes the town of Pyli and the church of Porta Panagia. Buses link Pyli with Trikala, and tickets to Pyli are sold directly from Athens and Thessaloniki.

Which animals live in the forests of Elati Pertouli?

Local records list pheasants, partridges, woodcocks, hares, roe deer, bears and wolves in the forests of Elati Pertouli. Across the wider Pindus Mountains mixed forests, the native large mammals include the brown bear, the grey wolf, the golden jackal and the Balkan lynx.

Which old bridge lies on the road to Elati Pertouli?

The Portaikos Bridge stands at the 22nd kilometre of the national road from Trikala to Arta, near Pyli, on the way to Elati Pertouli. It remains the second largest pre-20th-century bridge in Thessaly. A single semicircular arch spans 29 metres and carries a deck 2.1 metres wide.