Peloponnisos SearchDESTINATIONS FOR EVERY TRAVELER

Foinikas River

COUNTY: Achaea MUNICIPALITY: Aigialeia

Clear
16.33ºC

Length

15-30

Activities

Trekking

TL;DR

Visit Foinikas river that flows through various villages while history rests on its banks with the ruins of a medieval fortress.

Rising in the northeast of Mount Panachaiko, in the Prassoudi plateau, Foinikas river (also known as Salmenikos river) flows through various villages, such as Salmeniko and Kamares before emptying into the Corinthian bay. It runs 22.8km and Kloumenitis and Stachtaina creeks feed into Foinikas river.

History is on its margins, near Ano Salmeniko village, where the ruins of a medieval fortress (1280-1310) bear witness to a belligerent past when Mehmet the Conqueror in 1460 besieged the citadel and its inhabitants dropped sponges into the river to provide themselves with water. Today, only a bridge survives intact from this fortress lying in ruins.  The Oria Rock where a princess was killed during the siege is nearby. Recently, the river banks have been severely eroded because of arbitrary interventions, such as sand extraction, destruction of mounds and throwing of aggregates.