The village Nymphaeum (formerly Nivesta or also Neveska) is a mountainous settlement (altitude 1.350) which belongs to the Municipality of Amyntaio in the Prefecture of Florina. Travel guides present it as one of the ten most beautiful villages in Europe, while in the UNESCO world competition it claimed the International Award Melina Mercouri for the excellent management of cultural reserve and natural environment.
Its amphitheater location on the mountain gives the visitor the opportunity to gaze at every corner of the village, as well as the surrounding geophysical landscape with wide lakes, such as Vegoritida, and green meadows. The architectural configuration of the village itself, makes it ideal for relaxing walks on the sidewalks, a tour of the sanctuaries of Arcturus - which we will talk about below - and interesting, mental journeys into the past and the history of this enchanting village.
It is surrounded by a beech forest and is crossed by cobbled paths and stone houses. In recent years, with the contribution of important people who come from the village, it has become a pole of attraction for remarkable tourism.
Arcturus is active in the area with an environmental information center for the brown bear and the wolf one and a half kilometers outside the village. These facilities house 13 bears, which have been confiscated from teddy bears and zoos, and several wolves respectively. For these animals it is considered impossible to reintegrate them into the natural environment. The information center is open to the public (for a token ticket) most months of the year.
An equestrian club has been established in the area, the urban women's cooperative "The Nymph" which produces and sells traditional products, five traditional hostels, restaurants and the community tourism development company.
The precious forest of Nymphaeum
6 Walks in the forest of Nymphaeum
1. White Route - The walk of ARCTOUR for health and happiness. It is a half hour walk among beeches, pines, flowers and butterflies. If you take binoculars and a magnifying glass together you will have the opportunity to see squirrels, cruciforms (small birds that look like parrots), even crows and to observe all the "tiny" life forms.
2. Blue Route - The antidote to Technology. The demarcated route takes an hour and the blue signs lead you through the beech forest, to the stream where you will see the yellow-toothed toads with yellow bellies and a wide variety of amphibians and from there, to a valley with colorful flowers. You will be accompanied by the birdsong, chewing gum, blackbirds, burrowers and nightingales, while at the end the Bear Shelter is waiting for you to visit.
3. Red Route - Charismatic wildlife. For about two hours you enter the bear kingdom. You definitely need suitable shoes and water. You will walk along the tracks of wild bears and deer, but you will not feel alone as a variety of small and large birds will watch you. You will also pass through the valley of rocks, thanks to the old stone road, a sample of the exceptional art of our ancestors in road construction.
4. Blue Route - The crayfish journey. The route, which lasts about two hours, took its name from the unique purple-blue freshwater crayfish that lived in the river until 1995. You will have the opportunity to observe the lichens that adorn the rocks and you will encounter a wide variety of mushrooms. Perhaps the most spectacular is Amanitis the Flycatcher, a poisonous mushroom with hallucinogenic action, used by Viking warriors.
5. Pink Route - The path of ARCTOUR for philosophers and pantheists. In the two hours that this journey lasts you will have the opportunity to enjoy nature with all your senses. The smell of herbs pervades the path, while small birds fly out of the ferns, like the guinea fowl. The 7 species of woodpeckers of the Greek countryside are all found on this route and if you have not seen them yet, you will surely hear them pounding the trees. This is where the deadly belladonna, one of the most poisonous plants in Europe, grows.
6. Orange Route - The ARCTOUR walk in the wild. It is the longest and most demanding journey lasting at least 5 hours and needs proper equipment, water and food. But at the same time, it is the most exciting. In the dense beech forest you will find the enigmatic orchid - ghost, which lives underground and every ten years produces a unique stem with yellow - purple flowers. If something smells awful to you, do not be surprised. It is the arrogant phallus mushroom, with an image analogous to its name. On this path you will be accompanied by the best singers of nature. Chewing gum, blackbird, robin and nightingale. Be careful not to pick mushrooms. Here live two of the deadliest and rarest mushrooms in Europe, amanita virosa and amanita phalloides.
