In the former Ottoman countries, a kaldırım (Turkish) or kalderimi (Greek: καλντερίμι or καλντιρίμι; plural ''kalderimia'') is a

cobblestone Cobblestone is a natural building material based on Cobble (geology), cobble-sized stones, and is used for Road surface, pavement roads, streets, and buildings. Sett (paving), Setts, also called ''Belgian blocks'', are often referred to as " ...

- paved

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

built for hoofed traffic. ''Kalderimia'' are sometimes described as cobbled or paved mule tracks or trails. ''Kalderimia'' are typically 2 m wide, though there are reports of widths from 1 to 4.5 m, "so that two fully laden mules could pass each other without much difficulty". In Greece, the ''kalderimi'' network formerly linked almost every village, hamlet, chapel, and even sheepfold. There were thousands of kilometers of these roads in Crete alone. These roads are paved with flat stones. As they are designed for foot and hoofed traffic, they have steps where necessary, made of stones laid vertically. On flat stretches, they may be unpaved. On slopes, they have

retaining wall Retaining walls are relatively rigid walls used for supporting soil laterally so that it can be retained at different levels on the two sides. Retaining walls are structures designed to restrain soil to a slope that it would not naturally keep to ...

s. ''Kalderimia'' use switchbacks on steep ascents, and often have

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

s next to steep slopes. When they cross streams, there may be paved fords.

Oliver Rackham Oliver Rackham (17 October 1939 – 12 February 2015) was an academic at the University of Cambridge who studied the ecology, management and development of the British countryside, especially trees, woodlands and wood pasture. His books inc ...

, Jennifer Alice Moody, ''The Making of the Cretan Landscape'', , p. 156 The Skala of Vradeto (Greek: Σκάλα Βραδέτου) is a well-known ''kalderimi'' in the

Epirus Epirus () is a Region#Geographical regions, geographical and historical region, historical region in southeastern Europe, now shared between Greece and Albania. It lies between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea, stretching from the Bay ...

village of Vradeto used to enter the

Vikos Gorge The Vikos Gorge or Vikos Canyon () is a gorge in the Pindus Mountains of northwestern Greece. It lies on the southern slopes of Mount Tymphe with a length of about 32 km, depth ranging from 120 to 1350 m, and a width ranging from 2500 m to ...

. After many years of neglect, overgrowth, and destruction for modern road-building, there are now some initiatives to map and restore ''kaldirimia'' for walking tourism.Rolf Goetz, ''Crete: The finest coastal and mountain walks'', ''Rother Walking Guide'', , p. 16-17 In Turkish, a ''kaldırım'' is more generically a paved street, for example the steep stepped ''Yüksek Kaldırım'' in

Karaköy Karaköy (), the modern name for the old Galata, is a commercial quarter in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, Turkey, located at the northern part of the Golden Horn mouth on the European side of Bosphorus. Karaköy is one of the oldest and mo ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

History

''Kalderimia'' existed under the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, and the name is Turkish, but it is not clear when they were first built. Many may follow earlier

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

and Venetian roads, with new paving. In many parts of rural Greece, the ''kalderimia'' were the principal means of travel until the 1960s or 1970s. Unlike modern roads, which generally connect adjacent villages at the same altitudes, the ''kaldemiri'' network mostly ran up and down the mountainsides, connecting to villagers' fields. The modern roads have now changed the relations among villages: {{Quote, Previously, communications between villages were via the old ''kalderimia''... the most direct communication between villages other than those adjacent to each other was usually over the top of the peninsula and down again. Thus, although the old communication system was organised primarily on a vertical axis, the new one had a horizontal axis. In addition, the ''kalderimia'' communication system tended to take people close to areas which belonged to them as they travelled up and down the mountain between villages. In the new system, their travel was divorced from proximity to most of their land. ... Travel between illages on opposite sides of the peninsulaby the new vehicular road... had Loutra as its hub, ... often with a protracted stop there.... Road-construction programmes on Methana have therefore unintentionally changed Methanites' cognitive maps of the landscape. , author=Forbes, 2007

Name

The name ''kalderimi'' comes from Turkish ''kaldırım'' 'pavement', from ''kaldır-'' 'to raise, erect' + ''kaldır-'' + ''-im'' (deverbal noun suffix).''

Babiniotis Dictionary The ''Dictionary of Modern Greek'' (), more commonly known as ''Babiniotis Dictionary'' (Λεξικό Μπαμπινιώτη), is a well-known dictionary of Modern Greek published in Greece by Lexicology Centre and supervised by Greek linguist G ...

'', ''s.v.'' A

popular etymology A false etymology (fake etymology or pseudo-etymology) is a false theory about the origin or derivation of a specific word or phrase. When a false etymology becomes a popular belief in a cultural/linguistic community, it is a folk etymology (or po ...

derives it from Greek καλός δρόμος 'good road'.Turkish etymologic dictionar
nisanyansozluk
/ref>

Notes

External links

Kalderimi in Pilion

Kalderimi near Larisa

Types of roads Balkans