Parnitha
Parnitha | |
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Elevation: | 1,413 m (official) |
Latitude: | 38.133/°10' N |
Longitude: | 22.6833°41' W |
Location: | north of Athens, Greece |
Length: | 10 to 15 km, north to south approx. 10 km from east to west |
Easiest route: | climb |
Mount Parnitha (Greek, modern: Πάρνηθα, ancient/Katharevousa: -is, sometimes Parnetha), older forms Parnes, Parnis is a mountain and range north of Athens and Menidi/Acharnae, the tallest on the peninsula of Attica. The mountain can be seen from Eleusis, Athens, and northern suburbs. Forests are situated on the mountain and it contains a cable car. Much of the mountain is also a park. The mountains are surrounded by Aegaleo to the south, and Penteli to its southeast. The mountain has forests of Greek Fir and Aleppo Pine. The mountain also has many species of birds. The mountaintop is located 18 km N of Acharnae and about 30 km N of Athens. The view of southern Boeotia and western east-central Athens can be seen.
Towns surrounding the mountain are Aspropyrgos (Thria), Fyli, Acharnae/Menidi, Varymbombi, Thrakomakedones, Decelea, Avlona and Agios Stefanos, GR-1 aka E75 surrounds the northern and eastern part of the mountain along with the Cephissus river. The new Attiki Odos (GR-91 although probably nobody would recognize it by this code) is in its south. The two plains are adjacent to the mountain (Thriasian, and Pedia). There are some landfills adjacent to the mountain range. The settlement includes Agia Triada Parnithas.
There have been several forest fires during the summer months of the early 2000s.
The mountain also has a suspended lift on its southern face and forests dominate all its sides beneath 1,000 m. Above 1,000 m, the central part, the western part and parts of the other areas are covered in grasses and bushes and under 300 m they are mainly made up of farmlands and urban areas in the east.
The municipality of Acharnes covers much of the mountain areas and is bounded with municipalities and communes which is the most number in the prefecture.
The casino, the Mount Parnes Casino is located on the top of the mountain. Several shelters are also located on Parnitha, the most known of which is Bafi.
In June, 2007, fires caused by an extreme heatwave burned the forests of Mt Parnitha. All traffic above the cable cars was prohibited and personnel manning the radar base on Parnitha was evacuated.
External links
- http://www.oreivatein.com/page/mountains/p/parnitha/e_parnitha.htm (in Greek)
- Accurate Forecasts in Parnitha
- http://www.gianniskofinas.com/Vouna/parnitha/par.htm (in Greek)
- Birds in Parnitha (in Greek)
A portion of content for this article is credited to Wikipedia. Content under GNU Free Documentation License(GFDL)