Mainland Greece

Piraeus, Athens and the Acropolis Railway

Another cruise - another Port of Call or two, but fancy finding a railway on the Acropolis - clever chaps, those ancient Greeks.

Acropolis tramway, Athens

Acropolis tramway, Athens

Piraeus cement factory

Katakolon, Pyrgos and Olympia

Another surprise, the Katkolon to Olympia line is working!! I've got to have 10 Euros of that! and theres a very derelict steam engine at Pyrgos

Katakolon harbour branch	class 441x unit at Katakolon	Unit 4309 at Pyrgos	Goods wagons at Pyrgos
Pyrgos Station, Greece	Rolling stock at Pyrgos Station	Train crossing at Pyrgos Station	Goods wagons at Pyrgos
Patras line at Pyrgos	'9105' at Pyrgos yard, Greece	'9413' at Pyrgos yard, Greece	'9419' at Pyrgos yard, Greece
'7115' at Pyrgos yard, Greece	'7115' at Pyrgos yard, Greece	'Wickham' trollies and '7115'	'4502' at Pyrgos yard, Greece
Olympia Station and shed	Olympia Station and shed	Olympia Station, Greece	Looking towards Olympia station
Looking towards Olympia station	Looking away from Olympia station	'4311' near Olympia Station	'4311' near Olympia Station

Corfu, Ionian Islands

Corfu

And piles of genuine Victorian 4th Century BC ironmongery all over the place .....

Corfu Fort	Corfu Fort	Corfu Fort	Corfu Fort
Corfu Fort	Corfu Fort	Corfu Fort
Russian ship 'Danapris 5' off Corfu	'Gallions Reach' in Corfu harbour	'Gallions Reach' in Corfu harbour

Ios, The Cyclades

Ios

A new reservoir under construction as we sailed past on the ferry - which is my excuse for the poor telephoto photos.

New reservoir, Ios

New reservoir, Ios

New reservoir, Ios

New reservoir, Ios

Naxos, The Cyclades

The North-east of Naxos was the centre of a flourishing emery industry until 1976 when synthetic emery killed the industry off. Being Greece there was no great salvage operation, the mines just went to sleep. The aerial ropeways just stopped with full buckets in mid-air, tramways were left with the drams in the dozens of levels and emery piles stood where they were. Occasionally the better seams were and still are worked as the mood takes the miners. One enthusiastic miner is establishing a museum at the ropeway base station but the area is so remote. On the road from Koronos to Lionas, time has just stood still.....

Stravolagada, the centre of emery mining operations

The aerial ropeways

Two aerial ropeways left Stravolagada, one heading to Moutsouna over the mountains. At 9 miles long, this is by far the longest but crosses some really inhospitable country. It retains its cables and buckets, some still containing their cargo of emery. The other ropeway went down the valley to Lionas but has lost its cable and is easier to follow. A Blackstone 'Made in England' engine drove both ropeways via a beltdrive to a large outdoor gearbox. The Moutsouna ropeway was contructed between 1923 and 1926

The Blackstone ropeway engine	The Blackstone ropeway engine	The Blackstone ropeway engine	The Blackstone ropeway engine
The gear drive for both ropeways	The gear drive for both ropeways	The gear drive for both ropeways	The gear drive for both ropeways
The start of the Moutsouna cable	Bottom station for Moutsouna	Bottom station for Moutsouna	A bucket for Mounsouna, Naxos
A bucket for Mounsouna, Naxos	A bucket for Mounsouna, Naxos	A bucket for Mounsouna, Naxos	A bucket for Mounsouna, Naxos
A bucket for Mounsouna, Naxos	A bucket for Mounsouna, Naxos	A pylon to Mounsouna	A pylon to Mounsouna
A pylon to Mounsouna	A pylon to Mounsouna	A pylon to Mounsouna	A pylon to Mounsouna
A pylon to Mounsouna	A pylon to Mounsouna	A pylon to Mounsouna
The start of the Lionas cable	A pylon to Lionas	A pylon to Lionas	A pylon to Lionas
A pylon to Lionas	A pylon to Lionas	A pylon to Lionas	A pylon to Lionas
Halfway station to Lionas	Halfway station to Lionas	Halfway station to Lionas	Halfway station to Lionas
Halfway station to Lionas	A short ropeway leaves the roadside mines near Lionas and appears to connect with the Moutsouna ropeway somwhere over the mountains. It didn't appear to connect with the Lionas ropeway.	Roadside ropeway near Lionas	Roadside ropeway near Lionas

The mines and tramways

Stravolagada appears to have been quite an important complex. Apart from the mines themselves, there are workshops, storage bins, barracks for the miners and the ropeway terminal. As with the rest of the area, there are workings everywhere, some with tramways and drams and some just rough diggings. An incline or chute runs up the hillside belows the ropeway pylons.

Around Stravolagada	Around Stravolagada	Around Stravolagada	Around Stravolagada
The incline or chute, Stravolagada	The incline or chute, Stravolagada	The incline or chute, Stravolagada	The incline or chute, Stravolagada
The barracks and workshop	The engine house at Stravolagada	The workshops at Stravolagada	Ironmongery at Stravolagada
South bank level, Stravolagada	Storage bins at Stravolagada	Storage bins tramway	Storage bins tramway
Storage bins tramway dram	Storage bins level	Dram body and chassis	North bank building
North bank building interior	North bank building interior	North bank lower level	North bank lower level
North bank lower level	North bank lower level	North bank main level	North bank main level
North bank main level	North bank main level	North bank main level	North bank tramway
North bank tramway	North bank tramway	North bank tramway	North bank tramway
North bank upper level	North bank upper level	North bank upper level

The top of the hill down to Lionas

The inclined levels

Just past the hilltop church there are some under-construction buildings on the right. Behind them are two inclined levels with a winch house over the tracks to the left-hand level. There was also a modern compressor on site.

The winchhouse	The winch itself	The winch itself
The level looking down	The level looking down	The level looking up	The level looking up
The winchhouse from the level	The level from the winchhouse	The right-hand level	The right-hand level

The double-track incline

On the other side of the road below the tips from the levels is a brakehouse from which a steep double-track incline descends to the floor of the valley past a gallery, very reminiscent of the North wales slate inclines.

Tips from the inclined levels	Tramway to the brakehouse	Tramway to the brakehouse
The Brakehouse	The Brakehouse	Incline top	Incline top
Looking down the incline	The top part of the incline	Looking down to the gallery	Looking down past the gallery
Looking down to incline foot	Looking up from the gallery	Looking up from the gallery

The Lionas Hill gallery

A gallery off the incline, aleads to more workings on the way down to Lionas. The incline has collapsed where the gallery leads off so it's difficult to tell whether the gallery connected directly but it's certainly a possibility.

The Lionas Hill gallery from above	The Lionas Hill gallery from above	Along the gallery at Lionas Hill	Gallery buildings at Lionas Hill
Level in the building at Lionas Hill	Dram on the Lionas Hill gallery	Dram on the Lionas Hill gallery	Ironmongery on the gallery
Ironmongery on the gallery	Gallery towards the incline	Gallery towards the incline	Levels across the incline

On the way down to Lionas

The roadside levels

As the road drops down towards the lovely bay of Lionas, there are numerous roadside levels with tramways and wagons, some are obviously still being worked on and off. These are just a few! The shaft and levels 1 and 2 are close to the roadside aerial ropeway shown above. level 2 has an 'L' shaped track layout. Level 4 has a maze of tunnels inside.

This appears to be a shaft	Roadside level 1	Roadside level 2	Roadside level 2
Roadside level 2	Roadside level 2	Roadside level 2	Roadside level 3
Roadside level 3	Roadside level 3 from the road	Inside roadside level 3	Inside roadside level 3
Roadside level 4 from the road	Roadside level 4 from the road	Roadside level 4	Inside roadside level 4
Inside roadside level 4	Inside roadside level 4	Inside roadside level 4	Inside roadside level 4
Inside roadside level 4	Incline or chute from levels

The levels below the roadside

There are many more levels below the road and require a bit more scrambling to reach. Again this is just a few of the easier-to-reach levels. Across the valley there are even more spoil tips and levels to explore.

Level 5 below the Lionas road	Inside level 5	Inside level 5	Level 6 below the Lionas road
Level 7 below the Lionas road	Inside level 7	The other side of the valley	The other side of the valley

Moutsouna

I didn't get down to Moutsouna, the end of the aerial ropeway and main export harbour.
These photos of what I missed are from Facebook :- Visit Greece / Apollon - Naxos island

Emery barges at Moutsouna

Jetty at Moutsouna

Elsewhere on Naxos

Agios Prokopios

A Russian GAZ69 jeep with reg. no. 20520 was rusting away in its parking place beside a taverna. It could be up to 30 years old but who knows. Could make a great restoration project if you're feeling adventurous.

Russian GAZ69 jeep

Paros, The Cyclades

Paros

There is a very well-known folklore museum just outside Aliki with the majority of exhibits hand-built by the owner. Its very quaint and well worth a visit. These are some of the industrial bits and pieces.

Axelos 1930s petrol engine	Axelos 1930s petrol engine	Axelos 1930s petrol engine
Pumping machinery, Aliki	Pumping machinery, Aliki

Santorini, The Cyclades

Marble quarries and other bits and pieces

The Gaia winery near the airport was built in the 1900s as a tomato processing factory and a very rickety chimney remains. The old port of Skala has the WW2 German HQ and what looks like a small power station. On the Eastern side of the island there are a couple of working marble quarries.

Gaia Winery		Skala, German HQ and gun	Skala, Power station?
Episcopi quarry, Santorini	Episcopi quarry, Santorini	Episcopi quarry, Santorini	Episcopi quarry, Santorini

The pumice mines

Commercial pumice mining on Santorini goes back until the 1860s when it was exported to Egypt to make cement for the construction of the Suez Canal. Many abandoned quarries line the rim of the caldera where the pumice layer is particularly thick. Pumice was quarried and mined and passed down a series of chutes and ramps to be loaded onto ships in the caldera. Work at the quarries was stopped in 1986 as tourism became the dominant factor in the island's economy and to help preserve the unique landscape of Santorini. These photos illustrate 5 sites between the old and new ports showing their cliff-hugging chutes and conveyors.

Pumice mines site 1, Santorini	Pumice mines site 2, Santorini	Pumice mines sites 2, 3 and 4	Pumice mines site 3, Santorini
Pumice mines site 3, Santorini	Pumice mines site 3, Santorini	Pumice mines site 3, Santorini	Pumice mines site 3, Santorini
Pumice mines site 3, Santorini	Pumice mines site 3, Santorini	Pumice mines site 3, Santorini	Pumice mines sites 3 and 4
Pumice mines site 4, Santorini	Pumice mines site 4, Santorini	Pumice mines site 4, Santorini	Pumice mines site 4, Santorini
Pumice mines site 5, Santorini	Pumice mines site 5, Santorini	Pumice mines site 5, Santorini	Pumice mines site 5, Santorini
Pumice mines site 5, Santorini	Pumice mines site 5, Santorini	Pumice mines site 5, Santorini	Pumice mines site 5, Santorini
Pumice mines site 5, Santorini	Pumice mines site 5, Santorini	Pumice mines site 5, Santorini	Pumice mines site 5, Santorini
Pumice mines site 5, Santorini	Pumice mines site 5, Santorini	Pumice mines site 5, Santorini