According to geological research, the continents of Europe and Africa were once joined at the Vourinos site in northwest Greece, a region that today hosts the incomparable Valia Calda national park and reserve.
It’s a site where hikers can find more types of rocks in half a kilometer’s range along the Aliakmon River (Zavordas) than in the US states of Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota combined.
Another highlight is Lake Polyfytou, which contrary to popular belief, was not first created in 1973 from damming, but has existed for at least four million years.
According to geologist and author Anne Ewing-Rassios, a member of the Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration (IGMEM) of the Western Macedonia region, verdant Grevena prefecture and the entire Pindus mountain range can generate considerable and eco-friendly economic development through geo-tourism.
Ewing-Rassios first arrived in northwest Greece from Los Angeles in the 1970’s to study the region’s geology, putting roots in the area and moved permanently to Greece in the mid-1970’s, despite the fact that back then as she recalls jokingly: “everyone was looking at me in astonishment because I was the first woman they saw wearing jeans and driving a car.”
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