Olive trees with a view, mountain village and hike with a crazy local resident

Басылган: 19.10.2022

Today we first went to the possibly oldest olive trees in the world.


Ancient olive tree
4500-year-old olive tree

The route suggested by Google Maps from Palau was a bit shorter, but the roads kept getting smaller. Eventually, the water-filled potholes took up half the road and we feared that we wouldn't be able to continue without an off-road vehicle. However, our small Lancia Ypsilon made it over all the bumps and rocks, and after a tiring drive, we arrived at the 'Olivastri Milleniari'.


Ancient olive tree
Ancient olive tree


The oldest of these trees was dated to 4500 years (although dating was difficult and therefore uncertain).


Ancient olive tree
Ancient olive tree

The trees were very gnarled and there were only a few other visitors there, walking around the trees to see them from all angles.


Ancient olive tree
Ancient olive tree

There was a terrace with a view of Lake Liscia from the ticket office and the small associated café.


View of Lake Liscia
View of Lake Liscia


To avoid having to drive back on the bumpy road that brought us here, we continued on the road that ran along the lake.


View of Lake Liscia
View of Lake Liscia


Another German tourist had already told us that there was a dead-end sign at the entrance of Tempio Pausania and Google Maps initially wanted to send us in the other direction to bypass the lake.


View of Lake Liscia
View of Lake Liscia


But we wanted to get closer to the shore - and also see why we couldn't simply continue on the road to our next destination. So we continued on it until we reached a large gate. The road continued over a dam, but it was closed for security reasons.


View of Lake Liscia
View of Lake Liscia


So we turned back and this time took the well-built and paved road to continue around the lake to our next destination. (It would have been wise to combine the visit to the olive trees with our drive to Tempio Pausania - but hindsight is always 20/20...)


Hike at San Pantaleo
Hike at San Pantaleo


We drove to the small mountain village of San Pantaleo. From there, we first set off on a hike into the surrounding mountains.


Hike at San Pantaleo
Hike at San Pantaleo


First, we walked through the streets of the village. When we left, we came to a road that was only open to local residents, as numerous signs indicated. In the description on komoot, we had already read that there should be a 'crazy local' here who reacts aggressively to hikers who wander onto his property.

We didn't accidentally do that anymore: In the meantime, he has put up numerous signs around his property, directing everyone who wants to go to the hiking trail in the mountains around it.


Hike at San Pantaleo
Hike at San Pantaleo


So we started the ascent, which led steeply uphill on a well-marked hiking trail.


Hike at San Pantaleo
Hike at San Pantaleo


At times, the hiking trail was a bit overgrown, but overall, we were able to find it easily.


Hike at San Pantaleo
Hike at San Pantaleo

On the descent, we went through a forest before the path turned into a road (which we didn't want to drive our car on).


Hike at San Pantaleo
Hike at San Pantaleo


For the last stretch, we had to walk on a proper road with quite a bit of traffic back to the village.


On the way back to San Pantaleo
On the way back to San Pantaleo

Arriving in San Pantaleo, we took a walk around the village.


San Pantaleo
San Pantaleo


The beautiful mountain backdrop has attracted artists from all over Europe who offer their art in small shops here.


San Pantaleo
San Pantaleo

We treated ourselves to an ice cream in the warm weather after the hike, and then made our way back to Palau.

.Авап

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