GREECE PELOPONNESE ARCADIA DIMITSANA DIMITSANA

The village of Dimitsana with some 750 souls lies on a mountain ridge (960 m) high above the Loussios valley - right in the heart of Arcadia. It was built on the place of ancient Theutis, but there are only minor remains of its acropolis. The campanile-like church tower, the "clock tower of the emigrants", a donation of emigrants to the USA, is remarkable. Many houses in Dimitsana, mostly two-storeyed cubical buildings with wrought-iron balconies, are vacant, picturesquely dilapidated.

In the Greek revolution of 1821, Dimitsana played an important role. Never taken by the Turks, not even noticed by them, this remote place in the mountains became a center of resistance. Greek tradition and language was secretly cultivated mainly in the monastery of Moni Philosophou. When the insurrection started, the brothers Spyros and George Spiliotopoulus repaired the 11 mills of Dimitsana and turned them into a centre of gunpowder production for the Greek fighters.

The green valley of the Loussios river with its crystal clear, bubbling waters really is the heart of Arcadia, where in antiquity satyr-like Pan was the most worshipped god. The wildly foaming river has cut a deep canyon into the landscape, where age-old monasteries cling to nearly perpedicular rock faces. - Dimitsana or nearby Stemnitsa are ideal starting points for exciting walks in magnificent nature. The picture below right shows details of a hiking map with Dimitsana at the top, showing the locations of ancient Gortys ("Akropolis of Gortys" at the bottom of the map), the church of Agios Andreas near Gortys, the monasteries of Moni Philosophou ("Old Philosophou Monastery" and "New Philosophou Monastery"), and Moni Prodromu ("Monastery of St. John the Baptist").

Dimitsana, otherwise a place of melancholic seclusion and lovable quietness may surprise on a feast with boisterous cheerfulness, old and young dancing in the street at night.