In the last two years, the European network of metropolitan trails designers, located in Athens, Köln, London, Milano, and Marseilles, has prepared online teaching tools to enable the creation of metropolitan trails in new cities. In this prospect, we recently opened the online version of the Metropolitan Trails Academy and invite you to discover our charter, lessons, mooc and documents, before designing the trail of your city. Register now:
This article is available only in Greek for the moment. It treats of the different certifications systems that are available for trails in Greece.
In early October 2019, trail professionals from 13 countries gathered on the island of Kythera, Greece, for the training of trail auditors using the Green Flag Trails certification led by the World Trails Network. During the 7-days long course, a selection of Kythera’s trails were audited and three of them certified as Green Flag Trails – the first ever trails in Europe to receive this certification.
Green Flag Trails is a certification that recognises trails for their accurate data, environmental responsibility and sustainable management. It focuses on sustainability and responsibility towards hiking and walking tourists and aims to stimulate ecotourism. Green Flag Trails is a scientifically based trail auditing system that has been applied and tested in 6 different countries to date, including Nepal, South Africa and Peru.
This has been the first step of the Green Flag Trails certification in Europe, the next step is meeting the demand for the certification of trails in other countries across Europe that joined the course, such as Portugal, Spain, Italy and Hungary. In addition Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Kenya are also looking to implement the system to help improve the sustainability of their trails. All the participants, who successfully attended the course, have become certified Green Flag Trails auditors.
The team of experts gathered on the island of Kythera, Greece, in order to participate at the Green Flag Trails Auditor Training Course, hosted by the World Trails Network, with the support of the Kytherian Foundation for Culture and Development and in cooperation with Paths of Greece. It took place at the Hikers Friendly certified hotel “Porto Delfino”.
In October 2019, Fivos Tsaravopoulos, co-founder of Paths of Greece, visited Japan on a trail development consultancy trip. His long lasting involvement with the World Trails Network, Fivos has been called on board an international team of experts that traveled to Miyagi, Japan, in order to consult on the development of the Miyagi Olle trails. His consultancy focused mainly on the different methods to reach international hiking markets as well as the development of Metropolitan Trails. The WTN consultancy has been highly appreciated by the Japanese, who re-assured the World Trails Network about further co-operation. It is the third time that Paths of Greece is called to consult outside the Greek borders, after China and Albania.
Paths of Greece and Mr. Spyros Staridas (Staridas Geography) had been invited by the inspired team of Tirana Ekspres, in Albania for a workshop. The scope of the visit was a seminar about the use of GIS software, trail mapping and sign-posting preparations. The Tirana Ekspres team is developing a hikng trail around Tirana in order to help the city’s visitors to discover the natural beauty and the surrounding villages of the albanian Capital.
The 4-days-long seminar focused on the use of open source mapping software like QGIS, on the use of applications to collect field data about trails and points of interest, as well as about the design and development of adequate signage. Ideas and guidelines about trail promotion where also given to the participants.
The capacity building through the seminar was very successful and we are looking forward to hiking the trail once it is open!
Last October, Paths of Greece became 8 years old. When it all started, it seemed an impossible attempt. During the crisis years, the birth of a financially sustainable enterprise that would work on the development of hiking trails seemed irrational to many. Often, when I had to say what my work was, I used to be replied: “And what is your main job?”. Answering “this is my main job”, to hear again: “Well, and what do you live off? Who walks today? We have cars. Why don’t you get a serious job?”
Yes, I live off that and I am happy every single day. This work fulfills me with experiences. It gives me the opportunity to meet people and places all over Greece. Together, through the trails, we develop the opportunities for financial and social amelioration as well as environmental protection. Let aside that hiking is health…
The first years passed, and what I was doing with external partners became in November 2016 the Social Co-operative Enterprise Paths of Greece, with Sotiris, Christina and Spiros acquiring specific roles within our project. Throughout these years we did work with many external partners too. With some of them, partnership became exclusive.
From our very first project, Kythera Hiking, that is being renewed this year, we never stopped getting better and learning from our mistakes. We keep doing mistakes of course, but we try not to repeat them.
What we do is to find the old mule trails in different localities working together with the locals. We then organize them in a network, based on the preferences of modern hikers, to then clear them, waymark them and promote them in Greece and abroad. It is an A to Z approach that makes sure that these trails will be “operational” for a long time. Projects like Sifnos, Serifos, Prespa Lakes, Fiscardo, Drama, Paggaio, Monemvasia followed this philosophy.
Meanwhile, we have also created and launched the Hikers Friendly Hotels certification, that recognizes hotels that offer services and facilities adapted to the hikers. Thus, the hiking experience starts from the place of accommodation, before one reaches a trail.
Our next projects, being prepared during this period, will only be announced when totally completed. We believe that they will offer an excellent realm for hiking holidays for the visitors of Greece.
Our vision is to make Greece one of the Top 10 hiking destinations in the World.
To conclude, and without forgetting the way people looked at me 8 years ago when I was talking about my “job”: On Friday October 12, 2018, I happily accepted the invitation to present Paths of Greece to the President of the Federal Republic of Germany Mr. Frank Walter Steinmeier and to the President of Greece Mr. Prokopis Pavlopoulos, during the official visit of the former to Greece.
Fivos Tsaravopoulos
We are proud to present our new article about the trails of Kythera in the 4th edition of the World Trails Magazine “Trails Around the World”. Our article, written by Fivos Tsaravopoulos and Rigas Zafeiriou presents a 4000 years old pilgrimage route on the island of Kythera, linking two villages and 3 pilgrimage sites of different religions through the ages. You can find the article in English here, in Greek here, and the full magazine here. Under our portfolio tab you will also find further information about the Kythera Hiking project.
Miyagi Olle trail: walking towards the path of financial recovery.
The beginning of October saw the grand opening of the trail network Miyagi Olle in Miyagi prefecture of North-Eastern Honshu in Japan. Paths of Greece were invited to the opening ceremony and our representative, Sotiris Dimos, went there. As part of the opening ceremony, we hiked two of the trails and saw a sample of the beauty of Miyagi. The trails are relatively easy and go through deep vegetation of pine and bamboo, rice paddies but also the coasts of the Pacific Ocean. These are magical landscapes and very different from what we are used to here in the Mediterranean.
Despite its beauty, Miyagi prefecture has been on the news for other reasons. On the 11th of March 2011, a massive earthquake hit the Pacific Ocean 130 km East of Sendai – the capital of Miyagi – and it was recorded as a 9~9.1 magnitude on the Richter scale. The earthquake lasted 6 whole minutes. As a result, a destructive tsunami hit the Eastern coast of Japan, wreaking havoc up to 20 km inland. More than 15.000 people died, with 2.500 having been left missing. Coupled with the tragic incident at neighbouring Fukushima, the tsunami impacted the economy of Miyagi. In order to change this and bring Miyagi into a path of financial recovery, the region’s officials have invested into hiking tourism. The population of Miyagi has embraced this, as was evident by the large numbers of people who were present at the opening ceremony, which included representatives from South Korea, Taiwan, Mongolia, Turkey and Greece.
Miyagi Olle is a trail network that was designed following the Olle Foundation criteria. The Olle Foundation is stationed in Jeju, South Korea in which the famous Jeju Olle trail network is located. For more information, visit the network’s webpage.
Paths of Greece has participated at the 7th World Trails Conference, that took place from September 26th – 29th, in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. During the Conference, we have presented the Hikers Friendly Certification, made a lot of contacts, and worked on the creation of a World Trails Network – Mediterranean Hub! It is the 4 World Trails Conference that Paths of Greece has participated at, following our strong will to have Greece always at the forefront of the trails world. The 7th World Trails Conference has been organised by the World Trails Network, where Mr. Fivos Tsaravopoulos is Treasurer of the Board.
The World Trails Network 6th World Trails Conference took place between the 14th and 17th of October 2016 in Tottori, Japan. During the conference, which attracted participants from over 30 countries, “Paths of Greece” gave a presentation titled “Utilizing 5000 year old trails for a better future”, analyzing Greece’s potential in becoming one of the 10 leading hiking destinations worldwide. In the same spirit, during the final day of the Convention, the ceremony of the joining of M1 Kythera Trail and San’in Kaigan Geopark Trail (two trails with several similar characteristics), along the WTN “Friendship Trails” programme, also took place. This was a special event for the Japanese as Kythera M1 Trail passes in front of Roza Kasimatis house. She was the mother of Lafkadio Hern, known as Yakumo Koizumi, considered Japan’s national storyteller.
This was the second trail joining taking place in Greece, along the WTN “Friendship Trails” programme, once more an initiative by “Paths of Greece” that continues its efforts at promoting the country as a leading hiking destination, through its participation in the World Trails Network organizing committee.
