{{Short description|Ottoman-era cobbled mule tracks}} [[File:Kalderimi Aradena.jpg|thumb|right|Kalderimi crossing the Aradena gorge on Crete]] In the former Ottoman countries, a '''kaldırım''' (Turkish) or '''kalderimi''' (Greek: καλντερίμι or καλντιρίμι; plural ''kalderimia'') is a cobblestone-paved road built for hoofed traffic. ''Kalderimia'' are sometimes described as cobbled or paved mule tracks or trails.<ref>Loraine Wilson, ''The High Mountains of Crete'' (Cicerone Mountain Guide), {{ISBN|1852845252}}, 2010, ''passim''.</ref><ref>Brian Anderson, Eileen Anderson, ''Sunflower Guide Lesvos'', 2007, ''passim''</ref>
''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".<ref name="goetz"/><ref>Edward W. Kase, ''The Great Isthmus Corridor Route: Explorations of the Phokis-Doris Expedition'' (Publications in Ancient Studies ; No. 3), 1991, {{ISBN|0840365381}}, p. 43</ref><ref>Rackham, p. 156</ref>
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.<ref name="goetz"/> 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 walls.<ref name="goetz"/> ''Kalderimia'' use switchbacks on steep ascents and often have parapets next to steep slopes. When they cross streams, there may be paved fords.<ref name='rackham'>Oliver Rackham, Jennifer Alice Moody, ''The Making of the Cretan Landscape'', {{ISBN|071903647X}}, p. 156</ref>
The Skala of Vradeto (Greek: Σκάλα Βραδέτου) is a well-known ''kalderimi'' in the Epirus village of Vradeto used to enter the Vikos Gorge.<ref>Jack Johnson, ed., ''World's Great Adventure Treks'', p. 45</ref>
After many years of neglect, overgrowth, and destruction for modern roadbuilding, there are now some initiatives to map and restore ''kaldirimia'' for walking tourism.<ref name="goetz">Rolf Goetz, ''Crete: The finest coastal and mountain walks'', ''Rother Walking Guide'', {{isbn|3763348409}}, p. 16-17</ref><ref>"The Friends of the Kalderimi of South Pelion" [https://www.friendsofthekalderimi.org/]</ref>
In Turkish, a ''kaldırım'' is more generically a paved street, for example the steep stepped ''Yüksek Kaldırım'' in Karaköy, Istanbul.
==History==
''Kalderimia'' existed under the Ottoman Empire, and the name is Turkish, but it is not clear when they were first built. Many may follow earlier Roman and Venetian roads, with new paving.<ref>Maria-Foteini Papakonstantinou, José Pascual, José Pascual, ''Topography and History of Ancient Epicnemidian Locris'', 2013, {{isbn|900425675X}}, p. 283</ref><ref>Martha W. Baldwin Bowsky, Vanna Niniou-Kindeli, "On the Road Again: A Trajanic Milestone and the Road Connections of Aptera, Crete", ''Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens'' '''75''':3:405-433 (Jul. - Sep., 2006) {{JSTOR|25067995}}, p. 415</ref><ref name='rackham'/><ref>Yanis A. Pikoulas, "The Road-Network of Arkadia" in Thomas Heine Nielsen, James Roy, eds., ''Defining Ancient Arkadia'', 1999, {{isbn|8778761603}}, p. 248-319</ref>
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 [villages on opposite sides of the peninsula] by 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<ref>Hamish Forbes, ''Meaning and Identity in a Greek Landscape: An Archaeological Ethnography'', Cambridge University Press 2007, {{isbn|0521866995}}, p. 90''ff''</ref>}}
==Name==
The name ''kalderimi'' comes from Turkish ''kaldırım'' 'pavement', from ''kaldır-'' 'to raise, erect' + ''kaldır-'' + ''-im'' (deverbal noun suffix).<ref>''Triantafyllidis Dictionary'', ''s.v.''</ref><ref>''Babiniotis Dictionary'', ''s.v.''</ref><ref name="nisanyan"/> A popular etymology derives it from Greek καλός δρόμος 'good road'.<ref name="nisanyan">Turkish etymologic dictionary [http://www.nisanyansozluk.com/?k=kaldırım nisanyansozluk]</ref>
==Notes== <references/>
== External links == * [http://www.friendsofthekalderimi.org/whoweare.html Community to preserve Kalderimia in Pilion] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222071246/http://www.friendsofthekalderimi.org/whoweare.html |date=2014-02-22 }} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20140222152603/http://www.pelion-paths.gr/News.aspx?ID=481 Kalderimi in Pilion] * [https://www.panoramio.com/photo/7263675 Kalderimi near Larisa] * [http://www.cycladen.be/InformationEng.htm Kalderimi on the Kyklades] * [http://www.zorbas.de/maniguide/tour.html Kalderimi in the Mani (Peloponnese)] * [http://www.greecetravel.com/hiking/vikos.html Kalderimi in the Vikos gorge (Pindos)]
Category:Types of roads Category:Balkans Category:Cobbled streets