Established: 1962
Size: 23,16 km²
Tel: +30 26710 22293, +30 26710 25911
Ainos is the oldest nature park in the country and the only one that's on an island. Much of the park is covered by the unique in the world "Cephalonia fir Abies", which gives the mountain a dark colour and the main purpose of the park is to protect this tree. The Venetians called the mountain "Monte Negro" (Black Mountain).
The fir population is darker than any other vegetation and characteristically darkens the flanks of Mount Ainos (which the park takes its name from). There are a great variety of bushes and flowers like "Viola Cephalonica" (which grows up only in Ainos and nowhere else in the world), arbutus, thyme, amaranth, lilies, cyclamens and other wildflowers.
The population of wild horses (uncommon in Europe), the large black woodpecker (Dryocopus Martius) the island's most popular bird and also other birds found in the park, such as the osprey, the short-toed eagle and the rock partridge.
Its value lies because the small area manages to include everything from a coastal ecology, where the mountain meets the Ionian see up to the top "Megalos Soros" at 1628 m. A few meters below you can see the ruins of "Enissios Zeus" temple.
Ainos is not very accessible, has olive and laurel trees of 300 to 500 m, Pine forest between 700 to 1200m and mountain slopes mainly rocky & harsh above 1200 m. The mountain range covers almost 3/4 of the island from Poros to Assos. A fantastic view (day or night), of almost all of Cephalonia's villages and the capital Argostoli, of the Peloponnese (from Patras, Kyllini coast, Pyrgos), Aetolia-Akarnania, the islands Zakynthos, Lefkada, Ithaca and the blue waters of the Ionian Sea, is amazing. You can see the Ferry boats of the bay of Patras and planes (from the international airport located outside of the capital Argostoli), in the west.
There were no lights before the 1950s. The 1980s and the 1990s made the night sky look brighter with lights coming from smaller villages and towns in Mount Ainos making most of the scenery of the land look brighter. Only one road passes over the mountain range connecting from southwestern to the eastern part of the island. There are around 4,000 people living on the mountain range of Ainos. A large TV transmitter which covers a large area of western Greece for television and communication is located near the top of Mountain Ainos, somewhere in the 1970s, when protection wasn't quite strict.
Size: 23,16 km²
Tel: +30 26710 22293, +30 26710 25911
Ainos is the oldest nature park in the country and the only one that's on an island. Much of the park is covered by the unique in the world "Cephalonia fir Abies", which gives the mountain a dark colour and the main purpose of the park is to protect this tree. The Venetians called the mountain "Monte Negro" (Black Mountain).
The fir population is darker than any other vegetation and characteristically darkens the flanks of Mount Ainos (which the park takes its name from). There are a great variety of bushes and flowers like "Viola Cephalonica" (which grows up only in Ainos and nowhere else in the world), arbutus, thyme, amaranth, lilies, cyclamens and other wildflowers.
The population of wild horses (uncommon in Europe), the large black woodpecker (Dryocopus Martius) the island's most popular bird and also other birds found in the park, such as the osprey, the short-toed eagle and the rock partridge.
Its value lies because the small area manages to include everything from a coastal ecology, where the mountain meets the Ionian see up to the top "Megalos Soros" at 1628 m. A few meters below you can see the ruins of "Enissios Zeus" temple.
Ainos is not very accessible, has olive and laurel trees of 300 to 500 m, Pine forest between 700 to 1200m and mountain slopes mainly rocky & harsh above 1200 m. The mountain range covers almost 3/4 of the island from Poros to Assos. A fantastic view (day or night), of almost all of Cephalonia's villages and the capital Argostoli, of the Peloponnese (from Patras, Kyllini coast, Pyrgos), Aetolia-Akarnania, the islands Zakynthos, Lefkada, Ithaca and the blue waters of the Ionian Sea, is amazing. You can see the Ferry boats of the bay of Patras and planes (from the international airport located outside of the capital Argostoli), in the west.
There were no lights before the 1950s. The 1980s and the 1990s made the night sky look brighter with lights coming from smaller villages and towns in Mount Ainos making most of the scenery of the land look brighter. Only one road passes over the mountain range connecting from southwestern to the eastern part of the island. There are around 4,000 people living on the mountain range of Ainos. A large TV transmitter which covers a large area of western Greece for television and communication is located near the top of Mountain Ainos, somewhere in the 1970s, when protection wasn't quite strict.