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About 2 years ago, we joined forces with Diazoma Association to initiate the inspiring effort of mapping out cultural tours and engaging routes for the P.A.Th.E. motorway (Patras – Athens – Thessaloniki – Evzonon motorway, covering the section from Athens to Lamia. Our project, which was funded by Nea Odos, was successfully launched with the creation of 6 cultural tours, hosted on the Clio Muse app.
Driven by the vision to connect travelers with their surroundings, today we’re more than proud to complete this exciting initiative, led by Nea Odos, with the creation of 15 more cultural audio tours uncovering unknown aspects of new emerging destinations linked to Ionia Odos and P.A.Th.E.
Our 11 new walking tours and 4 road trips aim to present through an engaging storytelling concept the most significant monuments of the cities highlighting their history, tradition & other lesser-known sides of their local culture. After all, every place has a unique story to tell and we love sharing them with travelers, who wish to explore virgin areas in a comprehensive and unconventional way.
154 major monuments in total are presented through the 489 stories of our 15 cultural tours, 11 of them offered as free walking tours and 4 as premium road-trips.
The destinations covered are Nafpaktos, Missolonghi, Agrinio, Amfilochia, Vonitsa, Astakos, Preveza, Arta, Filippiada, Ioannina and Dodona. Should you wish to find out more, the whole list is available here.
There are tons of exciting stories to uncover but these two are my favorite and, thus, I wanted to share them with you to get a sneak peek:
How to ask a question from the gods
The second wife
The lead tablets used by the supplicants to ask their questions reveal the deities worshipped at Dodona. There are thousands of tablets containing many thousands of queries. Initially, the visitors submitted their questions orally but later on, they wrote them on thin lead tablets, folded or rolled them up carefully, and carved a characteristic sign on the outer surface.
The priests received them and pulled a lot with the positive or negative answer of the gods. After the divination assistants unfolded the tablets and erased the question to make way for a new question. Most queries are addressed to Zeus but others concern Apollo, Demeter, Aphrodite, Herakles, or Themis.
(from the tour Dodona: in the shade of the sacred oak tree)
The megalithic riddles of Oche
Dragonhouses
Huge slabs of limestone cover the elongated grey stones which are piled one next to the other, creating the mysterious dragonhouses. Questions, going beyond the limits of any reality in the minds of all those who choose to visit this remote, and at the same time magical, location, remain unanswered. No one knows with any certainty when and by whom they were built. Only the wind, penetrating the cracks in the construction, whispers stories about mythical creatures constructing them, or about the quarry workmen once living there.
(from the tour Karystos, the gorges, and the dragon houses)
Duration: 2 hours-
All tours are available in a Greek and English audio guide, downloadable on your smartphone, and can be easily accessed both online & offline through Clio Muse App.