This excursion is part of a bigger trip. You can read it as a standalone excursion or combined with previous post that you can find them here.
Astraka refuge landline. 26510 46818, mobile 6973223100 http://www.astrakarefuge.com/
On the second day of our trip, we had planned a climb to Astraka refuge. After having breakfast at our hostel, we took the road for Mikro Papigo. From there, it starts the path for the refuge, the dragonlake (drakolimni in Greek lang.) and the summits. In addition to our equipment, we have also a stunning Zagori pie(local pie made of flour and feta cheese) that the hostel owners have made for us. Mikro Papigo is 3 km away from Papigo, so in 7 minutes we park behind the Church of Taxiarches. The church, which dominates the central square of the village, was built in the 18th century and has been declared a preserved monument by the Ministry of Culture. The trail is one of the most famous trekking routes. It is part of the 03 national path and has no particular difficulties. It is distinct, in good condition and frequently marked.
We start from the Church and we follow the central stone carved road that crosses the village. At the crossroad that we come across, we turn left, as the information signs show. The sign also tells us that the time we need to cover the distance of 5.7 km to the refuge, is 2 hours and 50 minutes.
We continue walking and in about 15 min, we meet the first spring called Avragonios. It is a stone building with arches and terraces in the right and left side. The water is tasty and frozen. We fill our water bottles and we continue uphill. Our course is now a little more uphill than before , and goes between low vegetation and trees that are shedding their leaves. At an altitude of 1178m and about 45 min time , we meet “Antalki”, the second spring of the route. That’s where we decided to make our first stop, which proved to be disastrous for the continuation of our trekking. Do you remember when we first told you about the Zagori pie that we had with us? We decided to eat a little bit to get some strength, but eventually the walking seemed to have made our appetite bigger and so our small break, became a regular meal. After we ate and drunk, after 45 minutes, we started our ascent again. As you can understand, things have become very difficult.
We have lost our rhythm, we are now heavier and we are trying to climb the third spring named Trafos at 1522m. The sunny day (great weather for January ) in accordance with the meal made the situation worse. About halfway through, we had no longer the mind to go on and we decided to go back. We went back to Mikro Papigo and again we stopped at the café of the village for coffee and a snack. So , our hiking trip may end up with grief, but our gastronomic trip (continued until the evening) was crowned with absolute success.
However, for those who want to continue, the trail will take you to Trafos spring in about 1 hour, then to the fourth spring named Krouna at 1789m in about 40 minutes and from there to the refuge in another 40 minutes. The path is clear, well preserved and well marked. In a few words, it leads the way and you follow. From the refuge we can admire the view to the summits of, Ploskos (NW at 2337m) ,Astraka (NE at 2436m) , Gamila (WNW at 2497m), which is the highest peak of Tymphi, but also to Lakka Tsoumani, a small pond laying down below, in a small distance from the refuge. Also from the refuge , a hiker can do another 3 km following the trail that leads to Drakolimni of Tymphi. It is a small alpine lake between the high peaks in a natural setting of untold beauty.
Small tip, start your trek early. The route lays mostly in the alpine zone, with very low vegetation, so if the weather is sunny, you will have problem with the temperature (even in winter time)