Huge centuries-old vine trunks, spread over holly trees, adorn the precincts of the church of Agios Nikolaos in the village of Pagrati Kalavryton. Locals call the impressive trunks – which reach 100 meters in length – “Pausanias vine” in honor of the historian Pausanias, who is said to have visited the area around 174 AD, rested in its shade and been impressed by the size and beauty of this work of nature, so much so that in his work “Arkadika” he mentions the vine in question as a “curious phenomenon”.
The fact that when Pausanias visited the area the vine already existed and was already impressive in terms of its size and growth, objectively makes it an important conservation monument of nature. A monument that, apart from great historical value, is of special interest both from a biological and a biogeographic point of view. The worrying thing is that, like many other environmental monuments of our country have been left to their fate, the “Pausania vine” is also in danger of drying up and disappearing.
