The Menalon Trail
Greece, in general, and the people of Arcadia in particular are intensely proud of the Menelon Trail.
(The picture on the official home page is of the village of Stemnitsa; the building directly under the green structure was the elegant guest-house, the Belleiko Xenōnas, Μπελλείκο παραδοσιακός ξενώνας).
This is one of two trails in Greece certified by the ERA (European Ramblers Association)—the other is on Andros Island—which means that the maintenance and signage are up to the highest European standards (which are very high, based on our experiences in Switzerland, France, Italy, and Austria).
The trail is well-marked with these cool blazes. I am looking forward to showing these to my friend, Professor Ross McClain, who teaches art, and logo-design, at Furman University. The distinctive little swash is recognizable as a Greek “m” (‘μ’) and a Latin “em”; it also looks like a mountain-range.
The blazes are metal squares, the corners of which the trail-people
can bend to turn the square into an arrow. Between these blazes and the
.gpx files provided by Trekking Hellas we had little
problem.
The trail is divided into eight sections, each beginning and ending at a town, village, or settlement (this distinction matters… see below!). Stemnitsa, Dimitsana, Zygovisti, Elati, Vytina, Nymphasia, Magouliana, Valtesiniko, Lagadia.