Is Kalabaka a Hostile City for Cyclists?

By the philologist Spyridon Vlioras

On Friday, 25 September 2026, with fine weather and a desire to get moving, we celebrated the 13th Panhellenic School Sports Day at our school, the 2nd Junior High School of Kalabaka. The occasion coincides with European School Sport Day. Established in 2014, the Greek event links each school year to a theme explored through practical experience. This year's circular bore the central message “Leap into the Future” and the slogan “One leap. One Greece. One shared dream”. It presented the leap as a symbol of “effort, overcoming obstacles and self-improvement” and stressed that participation is worth more than a measured result.

Our physical education teacher explained to the pupils the benefits of exercise and regular physical activity. We then went to Kalabaka's municipal stadium, where the children took part in athletics, football, basketball and other activities. It was an opportunity to move, play and work together, joyfully and without the pressure of performance.

A group of pupils, under my guidance, brought bicycles. We put on our helmets and set off together for the stadium. Before leaving, we opened Google Maps to examine the route. The children asked us to select a cycling route, but the option was not available for Kalabaka. That small moment prompted a discussion about the benefits of cycling and the need to make it a more regular part of our everyday journeys.

Cycling is a form of micromobility, alongside electric bicycles, scooters and other small vehicles that mainly make short urban journeys easier. These modes can reduce congestion and air pollution while encouraging physical activity and providing greater flexibility. To make use of them, however, we need safe, suitable infrastructure. Not finding a cycling route on the map was therefore more than a technical detail: it revealed how difficult cycling in Kalabaka still is.

Our city's problem is not its many uphill streets. Even an ordinary bicycle with gears, in its lowest gear, can help a less fit rider climb them. The real obstacles are the countless bumps, potholes and protrusions left in the asphalt after work on water pipes, fibre-optic cables, natural gas lines and other utilities. Pressed to finish and hand over their projects quickly, contractors often fail to restore the road surface properly. Year after year, the Municipality of Meteora remains a spectator: it does not exercise effective oversight, accepts works even in the poor condition in which crews leave them, and does not ensure that roads are restored as they should be. Yet the law¹ requires the responsible authorities to inspect the roads under their care regularly. It also provides that, if damage is not fully and properly repaired, the maintenance authority must repair it and recover the cost from the party on whose behalf the work was carried out.

In the end, it is the residents who pay the price, forced to travel over poorly maintained roads, especially when they cycle. A journey along Trikalon Street, the city's main thoroughfare, can become an ordeal. Combined with the absence of an appropriate, safe space or cycle lane, this increases the risk of accidents and injury. A city that could welcome bicycles instead becomes hostile to them.

Of course, the lack of suitable infrastructure is not merely a matter of comfort. It concerns the safety of cyclists and pedestrians and everyone's right to travel safely. This year's European School Sport Day focused on active travel under the message “Walk, pedal, move”, encouraging safe and sustainable ways of getting around wherever local conditions and road-safety rules allow. For that encouragement to become reality, the corresponding infrastructure is essential.

We can see the practical value of such infrastructure in nearby Trikala, where the bicycle is an everyday means of transport and the cycle-lane network continues to expand. In 2023, the Municipality of Trikala reported that around 17.5 kilometres of cycle lanes were already under construction, with a goal of bringing the total network to 20 kilometres. In September 2025, a municipal group ride followed an 8.9-kilometre route linking established and newer cycling routes. In June 2026, a further cycle lane of about 2.5 kilometres was completed in the south-eastern part of the city. These developments show a network that now makes cycling possible across significant parts of Trikala and is still growing.

Karditsa has a comparable cycling tradition.² It has a network of cycle lanes and is planning further improvements and extensions. A project under the “Thessaly 2021–2027” programme, with a total budget of €2,089,070, provides for cycle lanes and green routes as well as 23 electric bicycles for public use. Through different projects and routes, Trikala and Karditsa demonstrate how respect for pedestrians and cyclists can be put into practice through urban planning.

Our experience abroad was different too. In Denmark, which we visited with our school's Erasmus programme, there are eleven national cycling routes totalling more than 4,000 kilometres. Several form part of the European EuroVelo network; in the larger cities we saw far more people travelling by bicycle than by car. Anyone who wishes can even continue into neighbouring Sweden by bike.

We had a similar experience in Cologne on another school visit. Teachers there told us that they sometimes cycled from Cologne to Solingen, a route of roughly 38 kilometres. It is not an uninterrupted, exclusive cycle lane throughout; there are, however, planned and mapped cycling routes, even where some sections are not continuous or fully signposted. The cycling culture was evident at the school we visited in Solingen, the equivalent of our junior high school: it had a workshop, staffed by specialist technicians, for maintaining and repairing pupils' bicycles, as well as properly equipped bicycle parking areas.

🙃 Perhaps, of course, those northern countries enjoy sunshine and fine weather most days, while here in Greece our year-round snow, rain and low temperatures prevent us from building cycle lanes or using them for much of the year! 🙃

Unlike neighbouring towns and more developed cities around the world, Kalabaka remains a difficult and often unsafe place to cycle. This is all the more striking because our area has every reason to embrace cycling: local firms rent out conventional and electric bicycles, and many visitors want a more immediate way to experience Meteora's landscape, history and culture. Is it not strange that they can enjoy their ride while wondering why safe, clearly marked cycling routes are missing?

These concerns are not new. In two earlier articles, published in 2023³ and 2024,⁴ we proposed restoring the bed and banks of the Pineios and creating a green walking and cycling route of about 30 kilometres from Kalabaka to Trikala. Initially it could run along one bank, with trees, benches, rest areas and information signs. Besides serving walkers and cyclists, it would let residents and visitors discover places of natural and historical interest: the plane-tree forest at Diava, the bridge at Sarakina and the manor at Peristera, with information about more distant sites such as the “castles” or guard posts of Agia Paraskevi and Vytoumas. In time, the route could link to other cycling and walking routes towards Portaikos, Karditsa or Larissa. More human activity beside the river would also help protect it from illegal dumping.

Yet we have the impression that to those governing our town, and to many of its residents, such a straightforward facility—taken for granted in so many cities that respect their citizens—seems an unbelievable, unnecessary luxury, scarcely worth thinking about. While meaningful support for cyclists remains unrealised, festivals and bicycle parades are occasionally held on Kalabaka's dangerous streets, with no practical outcome: events staged for appearance and publicity rather than substance.

Turning to the streets of Kalabaka, Trikalon Street and others could accommodate cycle lanes. Pindou Street, in front of the railway station, is particularly well suited to walking and cycling routes. At present, however, it forms part of National Road 6 and carries lorries and other vehicles through the city towards Ioannina, Grevena or Trikala. A bypass would divert through traffic and relieve the town. Nevertheless, for years there has been no serious campaign to have one built.

If Pindou Street ceased to serve as a national highway, it could become an attractive urban avenue with pedestrian and cycle routes, abundant trees, well-kept public space and cared-for building façades. Central to this transformation would be the rescue and presentation of the railway station's listed buildings. They deteriorate and collapse day by day, despite their protected status and our resulting obligation—as Kalabaka residents and as a municipal authority—to preserve them and tell their story. They are connected to the history of the Thessalian Railways and the work of the engineer Evaristo de Chirico, as well as his son, the celebrated painter Giorgio de Chirico. As we have suggested,⁵ they could house a railway museum or an art gallery. Pindou would cease to be a bleak, overburdened road and become an attraction that represents the town well, instead of reinforcing the impression that beside beautiful Meteora and the mountains lies an ugly, unbearable city hostile to pedestrians and cyclists.

The events of Panhellenic School Sports Day are over, but the question they raised remains: will cycling be a one-day activity for our children, or a safe choice every day? “Walk, pedal, move” cannot remain a slogan on a poster when the town's roads make even the simplest journey difficult or discouraging. It is not enough to invite children to pedal; we owe them roads on which they can do so safely. Otherwise, “Leap into the Future” will remain a fine slogan with no bearing on everyday life in Kalabaka.

Footnotes

1. ¹. Unofficial translation of the passage quoted in the Greek original: “7. Undertakings and public-utility organisations, including in particular EYDAP S.A., DEI S.A., OTE S.A., DEPA S.A., municipal water-supply and sewerage undertakings, and any legal or natural persons carrying out works on roads, must fully restore cuts and all kinds of damage to the road surface and other road-safety elements within the period specified in the permit issued by the service responsible for maintaining the road pursuant to paragraph 3 of Article 47 of Law 2696/1999 (Road Traffic Code, Government Gazette 57 A). This period may not exceed ten (10) days after completion of the works on sections of road reopened to traffic. If damage and cuts to the road surface are not repaired, or are not repaired properly and adequately in the judgement of the relevant maintenance authority, that authority must repair the damage at the expense and on behalf of the person for whom the work was carried out, and subsequently assess and collect the relevant cost under the rules for the collection of public revenue.” Law 3481/2006, Government Gazette 162/A/2 August 2006.

2. ². “The Greek city where more than 30,000 bicycles circulate, almost as many as passenger cars”.

3. ³. “Restoring the bed and banks of the Pineios from Kalabaka to Trikala and creating a riverside footpath and cycle route”, www.vlioras.gr, 24 February 2023.

4. ⁴. “A riverside cycling and walking route with a green emphasis”, www.vlioras.gr, 5 January 2024.

5. ⁵. “The engineer Evaristo de Chirico, the painter Giorgio de Chirico, Kalabaka and Meteora”, www.vlioras.gr, 14 June 2019; and “The Italian de Chirico Foundation and Kalabaka”, www.vlioras.gr, 28 June 2019.