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Lake Plastira’s dam

Itamos, Nevropolis plateau, Agrafa region, Karditsa Province / Thessaly

By Desolation Road

August 6^th, 2020

At a place called Kakavakia, where the narrow verdant gorge of Tavropos river opens up to the huge plateau of Nevropolis in Thessaly, on a sunny day of 1925 the people of the surrounding villages had prepared a table rich in roasted goat and local wine for the famous Greek General of the Balkan Wars and the Greco-Turkish War in Asia Minor, Nikolaos Plastiras.

Lake Plastira’s dam

That day Plastiras, born in 1883 in the nearby village of Morfovouni, conceived the idea of building a dam on this very spot. That afternoon, around the table, everyone was celebrating the birth of a dream that would solve the water supply problem of the villages and give new life to the surrounding rural acres. Even the children were already dreaming of swimming and fishing in the new, artificial lake that was to be born.

Plastiras instructed his confidant, his ally in Asia Minor Stelios Boltsis, to conduct a thorough research of the rainfall in the area. The construction site of the dam couldn’t have been more suitable: the narrow end of the ravine in Kakavakia was technically ideal, and the reservoir that would emerge between the slopes of the mountain range of Agrafa could be watertight and have sufficient extent.

Two and a half turbulent decades followed, during which the economic and political problems of Greece made the realization of the dream impossible. The Axis occupation during WW2 and then the Civil War had left provincial Greece almost completely devastated in the late 1940s. Nevertheless, Plastiras managed to start the construction of the dam in the second of his three terms as Prime Minister of the country, in 1950.

To achieve this he used funds from the Italian war reparations to Greece, and assigned the study and supervision of the project to the French company Omnium Lyonnais. But he wasn’t fortunate enough to see his vision realized. The construction of the dam was completed in 1959, six years after his death. It was a concrete arched beast, 220 meters long and 83 meters deep.

When the dam was put into operation, slowly but steadily the plateau of Nevropolis, named after the multitude of deer that lived there (as nevros in Greek means small deer), turned into a dazzling artificial lake of 25,000 acres and 65 meters deep, at an altitude of 750 meters.

Lake Plastira’s dam

The lake, which was originally named Tavropos Lake but later took the name of its inspirer, paired so harmoniously with the amazing mountainous landscape of Agrafa, that one can rarely find such a successful intervention of man in nature. Apart from satisfying the thirst of the 38 surrounding towns and villages and all the acres, since 1962 it also supplies the Greek public electricity company with 300 million kWh of electricity each year.

The production of electricity by the dam's water powers began in October 1962 with the construction of the hydroelectric plant in the village of Mitropoli - an impressive project for the time. In fact, the hydraulic energy was maximized thanks to the altitude difference of 580 meters between the lake and the location of the hydroelectric station.

Thus, the creation of Lake Plastira, 12 km long and covering an area of 24 sq.km., was a blessing for the whole region - since, among others, it led to the rapid blooming of tourism, combining the verdant mountains of the beautiful villages of Agrafa with the summer activities of the lake.

Lake Plastira’s dam

Lake Plastira’s dam

Lake Plastira’s dam

Lake Plastira’s dam

Lake Plastira’s dam

Lake Plastira’s dam

Lake Plastira’s dam

However, the creation of the lake didn’t bring only good news. In December 1959, a tragedy struck the area. As the water level rose, a main road between the villages was cut out, so some locals bought boats to serve the transport needs between the villages.

One of the first days of that cold December, 20 workers, most of them working at the dam, wanted to cross the lake by boat to spend the feast of St. Nicholas in their homes, with their families. Although the bad weather was severe, and they received several warnings from the boatman, they dared it.

When a strong gust of winter wind hit the boat, it capsized and everyone suddenly found themselves in the water. Without life jackets in the icy waters, one by one they tragically drowned, and their bodies were retrieved after several days by the divers who were looking for them. It was a tragedy that the villagers of Agrafa haven’t forgotten, to this day.

A second unfortunate consequence of the creation of the lake was that the flood destroyed the Neraida Airport, created on the Nevropolis plateau by the British during the occupation of Greece by the Axis. It was the airport where the first Allied fighter jet had landed in August 1943.

The plateau and the mountains of Agrafa, after all, were two of the cradles of the Greek Resistance against the Italian and German fascist occupation forces. The British delegation at the area had found accommodation in the house of Plastiras. The Allied planes dropped munitions and other supplies, and at night they landed at the Neraida airport - which is now sleeping at the bottom of the lake.

Lake Plastira’s dam

Lake Plastira’s dam

Lake Plastira’s dam

Lake Plastira’s dam

Lake Plastira’s dam

Lake Plastira’s dam

Lake Plastira’s dam

Lake Plastira’s dam

Visiting Lake Plastira’s Dam

The dam of Lake Plastira and the hydroelectric plant are freely accessible. The dam is located 25 km west of the city of Karditsa, and is accessible by a narrow but well paved provincial road. On the lake’s shores there are hostels and restaurants, as well as small businesses for water sports, fishing, mountain biking, horseback riding, hiking, mountaineering, paragliding, archery, etc.

Footnotes

Text & photography Copyright: Desolation Road / Panos Diamantis

FootNotes

Text & photography Copyright: Desolation Road / Panos Diamantis

© 2026 Desolation Road

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