Kaisariani Trail: Learning about the forest for young and old

If you get to know the forest, you will love it. And if you love it, then you will protect it. Based on this simple but so essential reasoning, the municipality of Kaisarianis is proceeding, in order to bring students and citizens closer to the natural wealth that the area has and which is its enchanting forest on the slope of Ymittos.

After all, this municipality, apart from the “luck” of being within its boundaries such a richly vegetated part of the Attic mountain, also has the great advantage over other municipalities of the basin, having direct and fast access. Not even ten minutes from the dense urban fabric and you are in the heart of the forest.

The Municipal Authority of Christos Voskopoulos, as he had previously developed in APE-MPE, has set as part of the strategy the development of walking tourism in the mountain. He wants not only to make the mountain accessible to citizens, but also to include his municipality in this part of the tourist map and is moving steadily in this direction. Recently, together with SPAW, he also launched the construction of the paths, i.e. the certified routes, which cover a distance of 15 km and people will be able to walk them safely and enjoy the natural beauties of the mountain, while any services required will be provided .

The “Kaesariani TRAIL”, which in the future will be part of the “Ymittos TRAIL”, has now opened its “gates”, however the municipality of Kaisarianis is going one step further… It is creating a modern Environmental Education Center in the forest for students and an Environmental Awareness Center for visitors.

In fact, these are two old buildings that exist in the forest and which, in collaboration with the Forestry Department, the Athens Philanthropic Union and the Natural Environment & Climate Change Organization (OFYPEKA), will be transformed by the municipality into places of information, education and familiarization with the mountain. The project is expected to be completed in 2023. In fact, at the beginning of the week, the Deputy Minister of Environment Giorgos Amyras visited the two buildings, who had the opportunity to be informed by the mayor about the imminent start of the renovation and upgrading of the two Centers.

In the Education Center, school students will be able to learn about the forest using new technological means, about the fauna and flora of the mountain, about its history, about the monuments it has, about the botanical path that has been created, but also about living on the mountain, i.e. how they can walk it, what they will need and how one can take care and protect it.

At the Awareness Center, also with modern technological means, visitors will have the opportunity to be informed about the flora and fauna of Ymittos, about the design of the 12 paths, about the points of interest, such as the Monastery, while there will be maps and printed informational material.

Finally, in the outdoor area in front of the two buildings, a general information area will be created for pedestrians passing by.

“We use the trail as a means of education”

One of the initiators of this whole walking idea, which is now developing into an integrated plan for the tourist development of Ymittos, is the deputy mayor Kaisarianis and president of the Ymitto Walking Group Manos Kitsellis. In fact, at the inauguration of the paths, he referred to how the whole story began, saying among other things: “This dream began one morning, when walking here on the paths of Ymittos with my two sons, we met a grandmother who said to me: Oh my boy , you brought your children to the mountain, but will your children ever be able to bring their children? That was the click and from then on we started with the main purpose of making people know our mountain and love it”.

Speaking now to APE-MPE, Mr. Kitsellis referred to the plan for the two Education and Awareness Centers: “There used to be a program with visits to the mountain of kindergartens and small elementary classes. We wanted to expand this and so we started to bring all the schools of Kaisariani, the Primary and High Schools.

And then we will spread it to all the schools of Attica. We are essentially using the trail as a means of education. And now we will also create the appropriately designed and equipped spaces, without intervention or burden on the environment, with this building that exists, so that the students with modern technological means can learn everything they need about the mountain, about the history of Ymittos, for the environment, the natural wealth, for the fauna and flora of the forest, for living within it.

Of course they can then walk it, see the botanical path, where the plants are presented, visit the Monastery and we don’t stop there…”

At this point, Mr. Kitsellis develops the next step that the municipality wants to take: “After the students’ visit, we will also go to their school together with an agronomist, to build a very small botanical garden somewhere, so that they can learn the children for planting and caring for the plant. And we will also make a connection of this small botanical garden with a mountain path, which will become their own part, as if they are adopting it as a school. There are other goals for the new year, such as putting recycling and composting into education, as well as “climate shelters”, i.e. the creation of spaces in yards with water and shade”.

Regarding the Awareness Center, Deputy Mayor Kaisarianis tells the Athenian-Macedonian Agency: “This will be open all the time and not only during school hours like the Education Center. The visitors will also be able to be informed about the mountain and its forest, the flora and fauna, about the points of interest, about the paths, how they will walk them, where they will be able to stand, what they will see. I think the timing for all this planning is also very good.

The inauguration took place the other day, our municipality organized a few days ago the Panhellenic Congress of paths, with the meeting of organizations and municipalities from all over the country, which have developed paths in their mountains, an institution that aims to spread hiking and exchange of knowledge and good practices, the strengthening of cooperation and information about walking tourism, new technologies and in general what is happening in the field of walking”.

And Mr. Kitsellis concludes: “Ultimately, the message that we as a municipality want to send is to protect the forest and Ymittos. And to protect it we must know it. That’s the point. So we are trying to bring people to the mountain, to climb it, to walk it, to know it, to love it and thus in the end, to protect it”.

RES-EMP

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