Drakolimni (, "Dragon Lake") is the name of several alpine or sub-alpine

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

s in northwestern Greece Epirus region: the ones in mountain

Tymfi Tymphe (in Latin and English usage) or Tymfi (in the Greek government's preferred transliteration), Timfi, also Tymphi (, ) is a mountain in the northern Pindus mountain range, in northwestern Greece. It is part of the regional units of Greece, ...

and

Smolikas Mount Smolikas (; ) is a mountain in the Ioannina regional unit, northwestern Greece. At a height of 2,637 metres above sea level, it is the highest of the Pindus Mountains, and the second highest mountain in Greece after Mount Olympus. The mou ...

are the most widely known. According to local folktales the lakes used to be inhabited by

dragons A dragon is a magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in Western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depict ...

who fought each other by throwing pines and rocks and thus created the peculiar landscape and gave their names to the lakes.

Drakolimni of Tymfi

The first lake resides at an altitude of 2050 m above sea level, on the mountain range of

, in

Vikos–Aoös National Park The Vikos–Aoös National Park ( ''Ethnikós Drymós Víkou–Aóou'') is a national park in the region of Epirus (region), Epirus in northwestern Greece. The park, founded in 1973, is one of ten National parks of Greece, national parks in main ...

. It is overlooked by the nearby peaks of Ploskos (Greek: Πλόσκος) and Astraka (Greek: Αστράκα). At 5 hours walking distance from the village of

Papingo Papingo (, also transcribed as Papigko, Papigo) is a former community (1919-2010) in the Ioannina (regional unit), Ioannina regional unit, Epirus (region), Epirus, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform (the so-called Kallikratis Law) it ...

, the lake is a popular trekking destination in the

. The lake is inhabited by a species of

alpine newt The alpine newt (''Ichthyosaura alpestris'') is a species of newt native to continental Europe and Introduced species, introduced to Great Britain and New Zealand. Adults measure and are usually dark grey to blue on the back and sides, with an ...

.for a relevant study of the University of Liege, http://www.etho.ulg.ac.be/denoel/site-pindos-en.html

Drakolimni of Smolikas

The second lake resides on the west slope of

, the second highest mountain of Greece. Smolikas lies a few kilometers north of Tymfi, only separated by the gorge of the river

Aoos The Vjosa (; indefinite form: ) or Aoös () is a river in northwestern Greece and southwestern Albania. Its total length is about , of which the first are in Greece, and the remaining in Albania. Its drainage basin is and its average dischar ...

. This lake is also inhabited by

Footnotes

{{Zagori region Mountain lakes Lakes of Greece Landforms of Ioannina (regional unit) Zagori Landforms of Epirus (region)