An underground marvel lays below your feet in Sami. It’s Drogarati Cave, a natural work of art more than 150 million years old, featuring colourful stalactites hanging from the roof like curtains and vitreous stalagmites forming spacey chambers.

Drogarati Cave, located  close to Sami, was discovered 300 years ago, when a strong earthquake destroyed a part of it and thus, the entrance was created. The depth of the cave reaches 60 meters below the ground level, the temperature is 18 C and the humidity is 90%. Initially, the cave was developed and used by the community of Haliotata, under the supervision of the speleologist Mrs. Petrocheilos,and since 1963 it is open for the public.

Drogarati Cave – Sala of Apotheosis

Speleologists have confirmed that the cave has an extension, which is not approachable. That means that the cave is probably connected with other caves in the area. There are stalactites and stalagmites created from the rain, which come through the rocky level of the cave, corroding it and depositing the elements of the earth on the edge of the stalactites. A stalactite grows one cm every 100 years. Unfortunately, many stalactites are broken, some of them because of the earthquakes, some others because of human lack of sense for the magnificent natural artwork. The big hall of the cave (900m2), is called “Sala of Apotheosis” because of its perfect acoustics. When Maria Callas visited the cave, got excited from the sound quality and desired to sing here. Soon, that’s what she did, with few hundreds of people attending. Since then, many famous artists have performed in this fascinating hall.