“So does this mean Danae can come to my birthday party this year?” Eleni Chelis asked her father a month ago. Eleni lives year-round at the Bafi mountain refuge on Mount Parnitha, as her parents manage the mountain’s two refuges, Bafi and Flambouri. Danae, her kindergarten classmate, uses a wheelchair. Last year, she couldn’t attend either Eleni’s birthday party or a school field trip because she couldn’t navigate the outdoor terrain alongside the other children.
Now, however, Greece’s first accessible forest trail was officially opened on Mount Parnitha. For 20 years, Stefanos Sidiropoulos has worked to make this vision a reality. Alongside Giannis Chelis, he manages the mountain’s two refuges. He is also CEO and president of Trekking Hellas, president of the Hellenic Association of Tourism and Travel Agencies Outdoors (HATTA Outdoors), and a founding member of the nonprofit organization Access to Nature. Above all, though, he is someone with a deep love of nature and the mountains and a proven commitment to making them accessible to as many people as possible, especially children.
He recalls filming a short video 20 years ago with his friend Kostas Siachos, president of the Panhellenic Athletic Association for People with Physical Disabilities and the Hellenic Sports Federation for People with Disabilities. “Essentially, we were showing how someone CANNOT move around in nature,” Kostas tells me. He has been a regular visitor to the mountain and the refuge, navigating challenging terrain in his wheelchair with remarkable determination. Yet he makes no secret of his frustration at having to ask for help, whether to go up the refuge’s steps or negotiate difficult sections of the trails. “Of course, the reality is that we can’t even get around our own neighborhoods, but that’s another story,” he says, pointing to the broader lack of accessibility for people with mobility impairments in Greece.
Through Access to Nature, Sidiropoulos and the Athens Mountaineering Club (EOS Athens) worked together to plan, design, fund, and build the project, finally turning a long-held dream into reality: a 396-meter accessible trail right next to the Bafi refuge. Access to the refuge itself was also addressed through a 107-meter extension of the trail and the installation of a platform lift inside the building.
“One day, Stefanos Sidiropoulos came into our office for what was supposed to be a quick meeting,” says Maritina Papamitrou, program manager at the Kaizen Foundation. The foundation funded the entire construction of the trail and has also committed to covering its maintenance costs for three years. “In the end, we spent four wonderful hours together, and his proposal became our vision too. We fell in love with the idea. It was an incredibly challenging project – obtaining the necessary permits alone took four years.”
Much of the challenge stemmed from Mount Parnitha’s status is a national park, where changes to the natural environment are strictly prohibited. The project therefore required approvals from the Parnitha Forest Service and the General Directorate of Forests and Forest Environment at the Ministry of Environment and Energy, as well as input from SEPOD and additional certifications from the ministry.
Independence and safety
Shortly after the ribbon-cutting ceremony, we walk along the trail with people with mobility impairments who are putting its accessibility to the test. It is one of those uncomfortable moments when you realize that something as simple and precious as a walk in the forest – an experience so essential to our mental and physical well-being – cannot be taken for granted by people with disabilities. I ask whether Greece has any other purpose-built accessible outdoor spaces. Paralympic medalist Alexandros Taxildaris, president of the Perpato association, explains that there are no other purpose-built accessible trails in the country. As for ski resorts, only the one at 3-5 Pigadia is expected to become fully accessible. Other resorts offer some degree of access, but getting around still requires assistance and makeshift solutions. Taxildaris and Kostas Siachos tell me that they have both bought 4×4 vehicles to reach as much of the natural world as possible.
Panagiotis Pitsiniagas, an accessibility and inclusion advisor to the Municipality of Athens, tells me about the remarkable accessible trails he has seen in Costa Rica and New Zealand, and admits that the Parnitha project has exceeded his expectations by far. “It feels wonderful to have something that includes me, too. Just think, I struggle to get around Athens, yet here I am in a national park, able to move around comfortably and, above all, safely. When the environment is designed properly, my disability becomes less limiting. When it isn’t, it becomes more limiting. We’re high up on a mountain, and my disability feels less limiting because some people worked hard to build this trail.”
Panos Konstantopoulos, president of the Kaizen Foundation, shares that sense of joy. “Access to nature should be a given for everyone, but unfortunately that isn’t the case. Now, people with disabilities, families with young children, and parents with strollers can enjoy a walk on Mount Parnitha. Living in an inclusive society is extremely important to us, and I’m very happy that we are making this project a reality.”
The trail’s inclusive design extends beyond people with disabilities. It also makes the forest more accessible to families with strollers, older visitors, and even guests who come to the refuge for a coffee or a meal but hesitate to venture into the woods, either because they feel apprehensive or because they aren’t familiar with the terrain.
The loop trail on Mount Parnitha has a surface made of kourasani, a traditional mortar-based material that is flexible, withstands moisture and the mountain’s changing weather conditions, and offers a more natural-looking finish. It features guide rails, gentle slopes that meet accessibility requirements, handrails and signage positioned at an accessible height, a small bridge, and several widened areas where visitors can stop and rest. Bicycles and motorcycles are prohibited. And yes, few nature lovers relish the sight of man-made structures in the forest. But surely what matters most is that this year, little Danae was finally able to attend Eleni’s birthday party.
This story originally appeared in Greece Is.
