The Northwest

Mt. Smolikas

This is the second highest mountain in Greece, at 2637 meters (8649 feet) after Mt. Olympus (nearly 3000 meters), but is very little known or visited. It is a rounded mountain, mainly of serpentine rock (though there is also limestone), and draws many botanists because of its indigenous plants, along with mountain flowers of many kinds which are also found in the Balkans and in central Europe. Trees include black pine, Bosnian pine, beech and fir. There is a lot of water on this mountain, whose rock, unlike limestone, is not porous. Aside from streams, there are pools and boggy places, and another lake named Drakolimni (a different one than the lake of the same name found on the slopes of Gamila).

Many of the special flowers on this mountain occur above 2000 meters. Bird life is not much researched, but seems somewhat similar to that of the Aoos and Vikos areas.

Access to this mountain is difficult and all paths require a long walk, one of them from the east, from the village of Samarina, which is the highest inhabited village in Greece.