INTO THE Hellenic heartland

Stretching from the lakes and wine country of Macedonia down to the fortified castles and scenic peninsulas of the Peloponnese, we explore the stories, sights and experiences of the Greek mainland. This is the country’s cultural lodestar — the sun around which the nation’s 6,000 islands gravitate — home to exquisite classical ruins, world-class hiking, rich wildlife, sun-drenched coastlines and the vibrant cities of Athens and Thessaloniki

- MARIA ATMATZIDOU, HELEN IATROU, JAMIE LAFFERTY, CHRIS LEADBEATER & KERRY WALKER

The duelling dragons of Zagori

In Epirus, the country’s wild northwestern state, a snaking five-mile trail rises above the stone-built villages of Zagori to reach the fabled Drakolimni, twin alpine lakes dating to the last ice age.

Words: Helen Iatrou

Departing in heavy mist, our hiking party zigzags its way up the mountain track from the still-sleeping village of Mikro Papigo, stopping to fill flasks at a spring-fed fountain half-concealed by the morning haze. Local lore claims our destination, the twin alpine pools of Drakolimni — ‘Dragon Lake’ in Greek — take their name from ancient duelling dragons once poised atop the opposing mountains of Tymfiand Smolikas. The boulders they cast at one another are said to stud the hillsides.

Deflating the tale with a smile, guide Achilles Papaefthymiou explains that the age-old moniker may instead originate from the newts inhabiting the lakes. “They probably reminded the local villagers of miniatures of the fire-breathing creatures,” he says, with a note of apology.

This more mundane telling doesn’t diminish the magic of Northern Pindos National Park. Resting at our first waypoint, the shuttered Astraka Mountain Hut, perched at 6,398ft, Achilles, founder of adventure tour company Alpine Zone, hands out homemade cake to nibble as we take in humbling views of the Towers of Astraka. One of Greece’s great natural wonders, the undulating wall of this impregnable massif looks like the turret from a giant’s castle, their buttresses and jagged crenelations carved by mighty hands.