Peloponnisos SearchDESTINATIONS FOR EVERY TRAVELER

Skollis

COUNTY: Achaea, Elis

Clouds
3.07ºC

Height

500 - 1,000

Flora

Bushes, Jerusalem Sage

Fauna

Birds, Reptiles

Infrastracture

Trekking, Climbing, Paragliding

The mountain of Skollis is southwest of Patras and West of Erymanthos. It is also known as Portovouni, Portiano, Santamerianiko, named after the villages found on its slopes called Portes and Santameri; in the Iliad it is known as “Olenia Petra”. On the mountain is found the “Neraidotrypa” or “fairy-hole”; a deep cave on the rocky side over Portes village, right under the crest of the rock, that has fueled the imagination of the locals in creating many myths and legends.

One of the mountain’s important sights is the castle named “Kastro Saint Omer” or Castle of the Palaiologoi, built in 1311, by the French baron of Thebes Nicholas III of Saint Omer. The castle used to control the plains of Elis and the passages to Tritaia. In 1429, it was given as a dowry to Constantine Palaiologos, at that time still Despot of Morea and not yet Emperor of the Byzantine Empire; along with Skollis castle, he was given Chlemoutsi castle, facing the other one. The two castles were the dowry of Theodora Tocco. Today, the castle is accessible; ruins of a Byzantine church and other buildings still remain, and the view and sight itself are rewarding to the adventurous visitor.

At the end of the 1990s in Portes village, near the location “Kefalovryso”, a Mycenaean tomb and a settlement were discovered, of the Late Helladic period. Other findings were also found, dating back to the Neolithic period.

Skollis, though relatively short at 965 metres, is a great place for mountain climbers. It has two climbing fields near the village Charavgi, one of 80 metres height named Kato Chatzouri, and another in a cave with negative inclination. There is one more, near the village Portes, with one of the hardest fields of the country.