Article by Dimosthenis Seitaridis
Cover photo by George Tzimagiorgis
How much history can fit inside a small valley?
That was the question on our minds as we returned to Katerini after a beautiful day in the Vale of Tempe. The occasion was an invitation from Mr. Kostas Pataras to join the Thessaloniki Friends of the Railway Association on an excursion to autumnal Tempe. Giorgos and I set out early in the morning, and before entering the valley, we decided on a brief detour to the mouth of the Pinios River for a few quick shots.
Nearby lies ancient Homolion. The first written reference to it appears in the Argonautica of Orpheus, where the Argonauts, departing from Iolcos, encountered Homolion with its many caves. The second reference is found in Strabo’s Geography. It was there that the Persian fleet ran aground during a storm.
Returning to the valley, we made a short stop to photograph the Pinios river from the bridge of the old national road. There, by chance, we met the man who first planted to me the railway-photography bug: Lefteris Zopidis. Lefteris runs the Facebook group HELLENICTRAINSANDRAILWAYS , with 22,000 members, proof that there are still many people who love the railway.
Waiting for us there was Giannis Manthos, president of the Cultural Centre of Larissa Railways, together with members of the association. They were our hosts, and with their draisines — old railway inspection trolleys — they would introduce us to the valley from the old Tempe–Rapsani railway line. The line was decommissioned in 2014, yet thanks to the tireless efforts of the Cultural Centre’s members, approximately ten kilometres remain functional. Their goal is to make use of the old line for tourism, using these ageing but well-maintained draisines, so that the young may learn and the old may remember.
Tempe is a place about which much has been written from antiquity to the present day. Giannis Manthos also told us a great deal during his excellent guided tour, which later gave us reason to seek out more historical information.
We learned that the area is connected with ancient festivals, cults, and myths in which Poseidon, together with Apollo and Artemis, held a dominant place. In historical times, the worship of Poseidon, under the epithet Petraios, was widespread in the Thessalian hinterland. According to the myth, he split the rock with his trident and caused the first horse in the world, Skyphios, to spring forth. At the same time, he divided the mountain mass of Tempe, giving the waters that had flooded Thessaly an outlet to the sea and leaving the fertile plain to the Thessalians.
The Vale of Tempe was dedicated to the worship of Apollo, god of prophecy. It was in Tempe that the god exiled himself, fell in love, and pursued the nymph Daphne, whom her mother, Gaia, transformed into a tree in order to protect her.
Traces of the sanctuary of Apollo Pythios, or Apollo Tempeites, were found at the eastern exit of the valley, on the right bank of the Pinios, near the end of today’s bridge over the river. The Septeria, a ritual re-enactment of Apollo’s purification, took place at the temple of Tempe every nine years. The ceremonies included the purification of a child whose parents were both still living, sent there from Delphi. After the purification and the gathering of laurel, the procession would set out for Delphi along the Sacred Way, following the path of the god and carrying the sacred plant. This procession, known as the Daphnephoria, was led by the child, who was crowned with laurel.
In Tempe there was also a third temple, dedicated to the goddess Artemis, most probably built in the area of Agia Paraskevi. Artemis was mistress of the mountains, wild nature, and forests; goddess of the hunt and protector of animals. It was only natural that Artemis too should be worshipped in Tempe, the valley that separates Olympus from Kissavos.
Tempe during the Second World War
The journey by draisine was wonderful. Their slow speed gave us the time we needed to observe the landscape and enjoy the route. The little train made three stops so that we could be guided through the area and take photographs.
The first stop was at the site of one of the most important acts of sabotage in German-occupied Europe. But let us take things from the beginning.
The Germans invaded Greece on April 6, 1941, and after the Battle of the Forts, they occupied Thessaloniki. Advancing southward, they camped at the Castle of Platamon, as the Tempe narrows were controlled by New Zealand and British forces who had taken position at the western entrance to the valley, near the village of Makrychori.
At first, the Germans followed the route of Xerxes. On Holy Thursday, April 16, 1941, passing through Kallipefki, they reached Gonnoi. On April 18, the remaining German forces arrived in the Vale of Tempe. After a fierce battle, with significant losses on both sides, the victorious Germans continued their advance toward Athens.
But Tempe never truly fell silent.
Greek resistance fighters, led by Antonis “Vratsanos” Angeloulis, turned the Vale of Tempe into a source of fear and dread for the Germans, carrying out dozens of battles and acts of sabotage. Captain Vratsanos himself wrote:
“According to specific data from the operations archive, during the occupation a total of 48,000 metres of railway track were blown up in the Olympus region, along with 36 bridges, 41 curves, slow-speed signals, switches, telegraph poles, and more. Transport was interrupted for a total of 1,324 hours, while German losses reached 3,065 dead. The most important act of sabotage, however, was the blowing up, on 23 February 1944, of German train No. 53, which was carrying German officers and soldiers from Africa to the Eastern Front. According to Vratsanos, around 450 Germans were killed, among them a general and his staff. One third of the dead were officers. For a week, the German guard pulled disfigured bodies from beneath the carriages…”
We continued our journey on the draisines, making our second stop shortly before the great tunnel. From that point, we could take in the valley in all its grandeur. The steep, imposing peaks of Kissavos opposite us made a strong impression, though the sun was against us and left our photographic appetite unsatisfied.
Our guide pointed out the site known by the legendary name of the Castle of Oria. It stood on the right-hand side of the narrowest passage of the Vale of Tempe, at the edge of a fearsome cliff where the ruins of a watchtower still remain. In times of danger, the watchtower would alert the garrison, which was probably stationed lower down. Today, no castle survives — only the remains of a square tower, of Frankish or Catalan origin.
After the necessary clicks of the camera, we boarded the draisines again for the next, third and longest stop: the shrine of Agia Paraskevi. The church was built in 1910 by railway workers as an expression of gratitude, it is said, for her intervention when a rock fell from above but, at the last moment, ended up in the waters of the Pinios, sparing the passing train.
The enchanting resting place for travellers passing through Tempe no longer exists, since Storm Daniel swept everything away — even the bridge built in 1960.
The little railway journey through the Vale of Tempe was a pleasant surprise. We came to know the place from a different point of view. We met exceptional people with love for the railway, love for their land, and the passion to preserve both.
Tempe in the Ottoman Years
Leaving Tempe Station, we made a brief stop at the Tekke of Tempe, otherwise known as the Tekke of Hasan Baba, the most important Ottoman-era monument in the area. It gave us the opportunity to become acquainted with the valley’s Ottoman past as well.
In 1423, the Ottomans conquered eastern Thessaly and Tempe. From then until 1881, the villages of Itea, then Balamut; Gonnoi, then Dereli; Tempe, then Baba; and Evangelismos, then Hadziobasi, were inhabited by Konyar Turks, also known as Yörüks.
Hasan Baba was a dervish — a holy warrior — and today is venerated as a saint by Bektashi Muslims. Hasan Baba founded the village that took his name, Baba, today’s Tempe, in order to control the entrance to the narrows. The Turkish village replaced Byzantine Lykostomion, whose inhabitants moved farther north and higher up, founding Ambelakia.
After his death, Hasan Baba became known as a miracle worker, and the tekke became a place of pilgrimage for believers from across the Ottoman Empire, especially for women who wished to bear children and for children who were unable to walk. A large Bektashi monastic complex developed around the founder’s türbe, or mausoleum. It included a square mosque with a minaret, accommodation for dervishes and pilgrims, and large kitchens.
Today, the restored türbe survives: a square structure measuring approximately 5.9 metres in length and 9 metres in height. It is covered by a brick dome, supported by an octagonal drum and sheathed in lead. Nothing remains of the tekke itself, since after liberation all of its architectural elements were reused as building material for the houses of the settlement.
We warmly thank Kostas Pataras, president of the Thessaloniki Friends of the Railway Association, for the invitation, and Giannis Manthos, president of the Cultural Centre of Larissa Railways, for the hospitality and the guided tour.
