Paranesti – Varvara Waterfall

Our journey began early in the  morning from Thessaloniki. Early to Paranesti, a beautiful town on the outskirts of the Rhodope Mountains, built near the banks of the Nestos River. It is located 39 km from Drama and you can go there by taking  the provincial road from  Drama to Xanthi. This was the starting point for our hiking in the waterfalls of Barbara and Lepida.

We stayed at Nessos Hotel. It is a small family hotel, clean and tidy on the eastern edge of the town, with very good breakfast and very good price. Its owners, full of love for their place, informed us and helped us to plan our hikes.

They also advised us about where to eat one of the finest dinners in quality and quantity that we enjoyed on our excursions. Do not imagine in an expensive restaurant, but in a small cafe, diagonally across the train station. Its facade, is a small glass window and an aluminum door and just 5 to 6 tables inside. It is so small that the 7 of us make the place crowded  and we had to play a bit of Tetris with the tables in order to prevent the space from closing completely. There, together with the elders  who were playing cards and drank tsipouro (as we said it was a a small cafe), we tasted local meat in portions that, without exaggeration, are the same size  with the dishes and we drank good local wine.

USEFUL INFORMATION

Distance from Thessaloniki: 183 km

Toll: 4,80 Euro

Dining: The small café diagonally across the train station – 5 Euro per person

Overnight staying: Hotel Nessos – 50 Euro 3bed room with breakfast

European Number of Emergency: 112

Fire Brigade Dept: 199

Medical Emergency: 166

Informational Site about the region: http://www.paranesti.gr/visitor.aspx?c=diadromes&place=all 

We start driving from Paranesti with north direction to the villages of Prasinada, Dipotama, Thermia and the Forest of Frakto , following the road signs. The road runs parallel to a mountain torrent called Arkoudorema , which is on our left. In 6 km we pass the iron bridge of Arkoudorema. After the bridge there is a crossroad that goes to the left in the artificial lake Nestos, Thermia and Virgo Forest and to the  right in  the waterfall of  Varvara, the forest of Stamna  and  Lepida waterfall, Dipotama stone bridge and Livaditis or Trachoníou waterfall.

We take the right North-Northeast  direction and now we are  having Arkoudorema on our right. At 7km. from the crossroad (13 km from Paranesti) we meet a junction that goes left to the villages of Prasinada and Silli and to the right to Dipotama village. We follow the right direction and after another 5 km (18 Km from Paranesti) we see on our right hand a sign that says “to Varvara waterfall “. We take the right turn to the passable earth road that stops after a while on a plateau, with recreation areas (kiosks and barbeques) constructed by the local Forestry dept. There, we have to leave our car and continue for another 600m on foot.

We proceed to the bank of the stream; we cross the small iron bridge and continue our hike for about 400m following an easy path. We walk through dense vegetation of oak and alder. The path slowly turns downhill; the roar of falling water is coming closer and closer to us, until we are at the end in front of the beautiful waterfall of St. Barbara. The waterfall is about 15m high and falls between two rocks forming a small lake with a diameter of about 25m, creating fairy tale scenery. Around the nature is luxuriant. Alders and willows surround the lake, salamanders are sitting in the sun on the big river stones and dragonflies fly in the air. Depending on the season that you visit the area , you can see small trout and crabs as well as small  water snakes. In addition to the well preserved path, the local Forestry Dept. has taken care of the area by crafted wooden benches for the visitors. The lake, on its opposite bank, narrows and empties its waters, re-forming the stream of Varvara, which in a short time is joining Arkoudorema.

We can also have a different view of the waterfall and the lake, from above,  if instead of descending the path, to the point where it descends, we continue straight forward. There is no way for someone to lose his or hers orientation, because the roar of the water is loud and can easily guide someone and also  the distance from the main path is not so far.

When we reached the point where the waterfall is forming, the different viewpoint has carried us away and the view from above made us admire the landscape even more, since on one side we are watching the water coming down from the mountain and on the other side watching it to be lost in Arkoudorema and Nestos, while the forest has embraced everything our eyes can see.

After we were full of all these wonderful pictures, filling them with all our senses, we took the road back to our cars. The plateau is fairly flat and due to the season, it was covered with low grass like on a football field. So we played together with our children, football, apples (a kind of dodge ball) and chase game, and we became children again. Knowing from the owners of our hotel, about the kiosks and barbeques, we were prudent of taking the necessary measures (steaks, ribs etc) in order to have a rich picnic in the countryside. It was late afternoon when we arrived to our hotel, having spent a wonderful day. At our evening “meeting” beside the fireplace, we planned the next day’s hike to the Lepida Waterfall.