The Zagori

The Zagori is a region north of Ioannina that contains 46 towns and villages in the most spectacular settings. The Vikos-Aoos National Park covers a large part of the region, and for good reason.

Our first foray into the area was on a day trip from Ioannina. As we headed in, we passed the first of many old stone bridges. 

 

We parked our car in the village of Kipoi, also called Kipi. It was an overcast day and the grey stone buildings had a certain moody look about them.

I saw a bird! There are so few birds in this country (apart from swallows and sparrows) that any other bird is a sighting of note!

I set out on a wonderful walk while John rode his bike. My walk would take me around a number of the gorgeous old stone bridges in the area. Mostly built in the 1700's and1800's, these bridges were usually paid for by wealthy people of the times, not any sort of government body.
First up was the Milos Bridge, named after the nearby mill. Built in 1748, it was a double-arched beauty.

A low row of stones lined the edges.

The mill was on the other side of the river. It even had its own tiny little footbridge!

The path then led through gorgeous green forest. I had the track almost to myself.

I passed a place where wild boar had been digging near the path. I also found wild strawberry plants but there were no strawberries, sadly.

The next bridge was the famous Kalegoriko Bridge with its three full arches, something quite rare.

A further walk through the forest led me to Kokkoros Bridge, spectacularly set in a small gorge. This is the bridge that John and I had passed on our way in and there was nobody there. Now, an hour or so later, it was packed! A nearby car park was full of cars and minibuses. The transformation in that  time was amazing!

I was following a trail on an app that led away from the direction I wanted to go at this point, so my plan was to cross the bridge then turn right onto another trail that I could see. I crossed the bridge, looked to the right and nearly had a heart attack. There was a drop from the bridge onto a couple of rocks that were sticking out from the base of the bridge. The rocks sloped towards a bit of a drop-off. From the rocks a few very narrow steps led downwards but finished a metre or so from the ground. It's hard to tell what it's like from this photo but I wasn't too fussed about that at this stage!

I was stuck. I really wanted to go along the path and I could see it tantalisingly beneath me. A young couple helped each other down successfully so I gave it a go. Fortunately, a couple of guys realised I needed help. One held my gear and the other one helped me down. It was still terrifying but I did it with their help. I walked along the path and, only about 20 metres away, found that the path led through this hole. Cool!

But look closely at the track in the pic above. It stopped at the back of the hole! The next part of the track had been washed away. I couldn't go up or down so I had to return the way I had come. Along the way, I had stepped over an eroded part of the track but, somehow, returning back over that patch in the other direction proved to be much more difficult. I had to sit down, slide my gear across, then slide my way across. Back at the base of the bridge I had to get back up those awful steps. Again, someone saw me and gave me a hand. Thanks goodness for chivalrous gentlemen!

The same man suggested that I could walk along the riverbed which I decided was a good idea. It wasn't as nice as the track but it was a lot safer!

People stacked rocks up to make pretty cairns.

I came back onto the track at the three-arched bridge which looked different from the river bed.

My last bridge sat prettily against the edge of a small cliff.

John and I met at a cafe. I loved how a cluster of walking sticks were stacked in one corner. Many people use walking sticks like these around here.

You've got to admire the ingenuity of this creation. This swallows' nest was above one of the cafe tables. Rather than get rid of the nest, someone just nailed something underneath it to stop the bird poo landing on the table!

We had been eating plenty of Greek pies but were unable to get a chicken one anywhere, even though they're quite well known. We heard that one restaurant in a village called Aspraggeli was famous for its chicken pies. It was on our way so there was no doubt where we were having lunch. We found the place in a pretty town. The restaurant overlooked the ruins of a church that had been burned down by the Nazis during WW2.

The people at this restaurant were lovely and the pie was magnificent!

A few days later, we left Ioannina and came back through Aspraggeli (accidentally on purpose) for more chicken pie!

This time we headed deeper into the Zagori. The most famous feature of the area is the Vikos Gorge. We visited the Church of Agios Minos where we had spectacular views of one part of the huge gorge.

As we headed along the road, we found an area full of amazing rock formations. So many people had left rock cairns there that they became part of the attraction!

The rocks formed weird and wonderful shapes.

The gorge loomed in the distance.

We then made our way to the Oxia Viewpoint. A sign at the start of the track declared that Vikos Gorge holds the Guinness Book of Records for being the deepest gorge in the world. There must be a difference in the definitions of a gorge and a canyon, as it's not as deep as the Grand Canyon in the US, but let's not quibble about technicalities.

We walked along a track which soon led to the wall of the gorge. Oh my goodness! The gorge was sensational! We were looking directly across at the other side of the gorge and the ground plummeted between the two walls. 

We could see a long way along the other side.

There was a small walled lookout point. Looking down over the edge was hair-raising!

We then realised that a track ran further than the lookout point. It seemed to be a natural break in the cliff wall, something we've seen in a few places. It was about 1.5 to 2 metres wide and was completely unfenced. It was perfectly safe to walk on - so long as you didn't trip!

It was a thrilling walk with breath-taking views.

Back in the car, we continued on. The roads in the area we were going to seemed to funnel through one tiny village, called Aristi. The roads could only take one car width at a time so they had to set up traffic lights to control the traffic flow!

After that village, we began to climb. The lines on Google maps started looking like someone's intestines!

We soon came to a stretch of road with an amazing 15 switchbacks in a row. 

We got to know this stretch of road very well as we ended up driving up and down it quite a few times. As we drove up, John eyed off if he could ride it. He ended up riding it twice!

Much to our disappointment, as we climbed, the temperature didn't change much. Even though we were in the mountains, the temperature sat at around 36 degrees!

The views became more and more spectacular as Mt Tymphi came into view. Note the patch of orange/red rock in this photo. I'll talk about it later.

A different section of the Vikos Gorge.

Mt Tymphi's spectacular irregular outlines would be the backdrop to our stay for the next four days,

Our destination was the small village of Mikro Papigo. Only a couple of kms away was Megalo Papigo, obviously the larger village of the two. Mikro Papigo nestled in the forest at the base of the mountains.

We found our apartment, the top floor of a house. It was simple but lovely, but it had one big problem -it was 36 degrees outside and it would have been about 34 degrees inside. We had assumed we could cool it down overnight as the nights get cool there, however only three small windows had flyscreen on them and they were all torn! We had some terrible hot night sleeps here. It's a pity because everything else was wonderful.

Our part of the house was at street level at the front but another entire level was under us at the back. The building was perched in a sensational position with amazing views.

We were so close to the mountains!

Visiting Mikro Papigo was like stepping back in time. Every house was made of stone and had a slate roof. The streets were made of neat cobblestones and everything was kept very traditional.

I love the hand-made wooden peg that shuts this door latch.

The windows on our house were small but they had shutters on them and we had fantastic views from them!

Stone chimneys and stone cliffs.

Grapevines covered parts of the roads through the village.

The taverna outclassed everyone else though - it had an enormous kiwifruit vine covering the outdoor eating area. Kiwifruit hung from it everywhere.

Apparently, these villages were all dying in the1970's as people moved out in search of jobs in the towns and cities. A government incentive to promote the villages to tourism brought both visitors and residents back. Buildings were restored and new ones were built to strict building codes. We were here in peak holiday time and they certainly were flourishing! Megalo Papigo in fact looked completely overrun with tourists.

The 'towers' of Mt Tymphi reared up over the back of the village. At sunset they glowed red. It truly was a spectacular location.

As the sun set, the lights of village looked just as lovely from our window.

A just-past full moon rose over the layers of mountain ridges one night.

There was a local cafe just near us. One day we had the equivalent of three coffees and a cake and it set us back 40 Aussie dollars! As lovely as it was, we didn't go back. On our second night we found there was a fancy hotel with wonderful food. We had been trying for ages to get wild boar but it's not the season. (Boar can only be hunted for a few months a year.) We could never understand why they didn't just freeze the meals. They did freeze them here though and we had amazing wild boar in a rich sauce. We ate here for three nights and every night we were given a full-sized dessert for free. The desserts were huge! We had a pavlova (yes, an Aussie dish!) with so much cream and topping that the dish was the size of a cauliflower!

As John beat up and down the 15 switchbacks road, as well as other roads, I had many walking options to choose from. This area is well known for hiking and many walks go to or from a refuge set high in the mountains. However, these walks were all five or more hours one way and, with temperatures staying around the mid-30's, there was no way I was hiking up many hundreds of metres to the refuge. We saw so many people doing it though. They often had no hats and only singlet tops or the young men would go shirtless. They were crazy! We even had someone knock on our door at 7am (we were right on the main road and they could see we were up) to ask if we could spare a water bottle. They were about to do one of the five hour hikes - with little kids!

For my benefit, I've listed my walks here.

Red Rock and Viewpoint Walk

My first walk from Mikro Papingo was out to a lookout point. I love that the track led me beneath those towering rocks. The track wasn't hard. I walked under Red Rock - a place where a landslide had exposed the orange/red rock underneath a long time ago. Apparently, the villagers used to use it as a sundial. When the sun hit the Red Rock it was time for lunch!

The views along the way were superb.

Several times I crossed long runs of scree from old landslides.

Looking back along the path. It looks like the track should be difficult, but it wasn't.

The walk finished at a shrine with a lovely view.

Walk along the Voidomatis River

Another fairly easy and lovely walk led me from the bottom of the zigzag road to the Gefira stone bridge. The beautiful path led through forests, mostly following the river. The clear spring water was a stunning turquoise colour!

I had learned in my planning that there were natural rock shelters along the river where thousands of Palaeolithic tools were found. I had looked up a few maps and found one that showed a track leading to the main shelter. I got to the spot and realised that not many people went up this track. It was faint and overgrown compared to the main track. I really wanted to see the rock shelter though so I started the scramble up. I realised part way that getting up was hard enough but it was going to be very tricky coming down. By hanging onto tree branches and rocks, I was able to climb up. Clearly, at one stage in the past, the shelter had been fenced off but the fence was now collapsed. I climbed over the fence and made it. It felt amazing to stand where people had stood 9,500 to 17,500 years ago.

By using my hiking pole a lot and being VERY careful, I made it back down unscathed. 

Further on was a lovely little abandoned monastery. The church had been maintained though.

After a while the forest changed to plane trees. I've never seen a plane tree forest before! Some of the trees were ancient. Trunks were hollowed out or gnarled and twisted - or both!

At the end was another gorgeous stone bridge. 

Another 15 minute walk brought me to the restaurant where I had arranged to meet John. He had just arrived and had had a great ride too. 

There are many trout in this river (although I only saw one!) and this restaurant is known for serving trout which John enjoyed greatly!

Walk to Monastery and Angastromeni Springs

I was ready for a hard walk for this one. The walk wasn't super long but it would take me from the top to the bottom of the Vikos Gorge, something I hadn't done yet. My destination was Angastromeni Springs, one of the sources of the Voidomatis River. This river is the one that created the Vikos Gorge.

Again, we headed off early to beat the heat. I thought I might have shade on the way down but wasn't sure about the way back.

We drove to Vikos, a small village we had seen  from distance but hadn't been to yet. We parked on the edge of the village and John set off on his bike along the road.

My track was nearby and my descent began immediately as the path switched back and forth down the side of the gorge. I climbed down and down, grateful that I was entirely in shade.  

The views along the gorge were amazing, but the morning sun made photo-taking difficult. Far below me I could see a small monastery which was near where I was going to. It looked such a long way down! (It's in the bottom left corner of this photo.)

I found my first autumn leaves. It must look amazing here when the whole forest is in full autumn colours!

I reached the monastery at the bottom of the gorge without seeing another soul. Disappointingly, it was locked.

It was only a short distance from there to the river and the springs. I walked until I reached the river - and gasped! The river was the most stunning turquoise colour I had ever seen! It was truly magical! Plus I had it all to myself. The water was crystal clear and sometimes it was hard to tell where the water started.

The river formed a few deeper pools. They were incredibly beautiful.

The mountains and sky reflected in the smooth surface of the pools.

There was no doubt that the springs were here. Water bubbled up out of the ground in several places.

I felt the water and it was incredibly cold. But how could I leave one of the most beautiful swimming places I've ever seen without getting in? I kept looking up at the track back though. The sun was creeping across surprisingly quickly. The longer I left my return, the hotter it would be. 

I decided to try putting my feet in first. For the first couple of seconds it just felt cold, but then the pain hit. It's not too often I've felt pain from cold like that!
I still really wanted to get in though. I decided that if I had a couple of seconds before my feet hurt then the same would apply if I got the rest of me in really quickly. I changed into my bathers and just strode in without hesitating. 

Again, the first couple of seconds were ok. But then it hit me. Involuntary noises, something between gasps and grunts, were coming from my mouth and I couldn't sop them! I grabbed a few photos but had no control over what my face was doing. I've never experienced cold like it!

I quickly got out and, a few minutes later, a guy and his cute Jack Russell turned up. I put my clothes on over my wet bathers, working on the theory that it would keep me cooler going back up the hill, which it did.

The other guy and I had a brief chat then I headed off. I only got five minutes up the track before the sun hit. The other guy soon passed me but he wasn't fit and kept stopping, In the end, we either walked together or passed each other continually as we climbed. He was a nice guy and it was a pleasant change to walk along with his little dog.

There were some pretty cool rock formations on the way up.

Shafts of sunlight drew lines of light and shade across the landscape, however it was very hard to photograph them.

I made it to the top, quite proud of myself. John had had a good ride too so we collapsed under a gorgeous grapevine at one of the local restaurants. 

One thing I keep forgetting to mention is the wasps and bees. As soon as food comes out, they seem to track it down from miles away. They can be really bad sometimes.

We had a bit of a look at the village of Vikos. It was small, and far less touristy than many other villages around there. We really liked it. It had a great view of the gorge too!

The Two Papigos Walk.

This was a lovely walk that looped between Mikro and Megalo Papigo. It led along another traditional stone path that people used to use before roads were built.

I crossed yet another gorgeous old bridge. This one, built in 1850, was small and clearly meant for foot traffic only.

We had driven through Megalo Papigo many times on our way back to Mikro Papigo. It was often crazily overrun with tourists. At this hour though, it was wonderfully quiet. Greeks are not early birds! I barely saw anyone. 

Megalo Papigo is very beautiful but it's a bit too manicured for me.

Most buildings had been restored but I found one very photogenic ruin.

To my amazement, hundreds, if not thousands, of swallows filled the morning sky - complete with a moon in the distance.

Those that weren't flying were resting on the powerlines.

They looked like notes on a music stave, lol.

Again, the morning rays shone down from the hills.

This truly was a wonderful region. It was so beautiful and I felt that I left a lot of walks on the table, so to speak. We'll just have to come back again another time!

Hooroo.

Heather and John