I just don’t have the words to describe how beautiful the drive from Kalambaka was. To get to my next stop in Ioannina I had to drive the twisty roads all the way through those mountains most of the day, but I didn’t expect the scale of them. Every bend revealed a new eye popping view. I was really caught off guard by it all.

Tzoumerka National Park

Be prepared, this post is a long one… This region of Epirus that I’ll be exploring for the next few days is partially known for all the stone bridges scattered around. The Bridge of Portaikos wasn’t on my radar at all. I just happened to be driving past it, but it’s a good sample of what’s to come. We’ll talk more about the bridges later.

The one stop I did plan on, however, turned out to be more spectacular than I had imagined. I thought I was just going to do a quick hike to a waterfall to break up the drive, but the road to the trailhead was super narrow and super duper twisty and unpaved in a couple of spots. I had to drive up up up to the little village of Theodoriana, navigate the crazy narrow streets all the way to the top of the village and beyond, to finally reach my trailhead. Below is the first view of Theodoriana I got heading in. Wow! Just wow!

I found the trailhead easy enough and did the short hike to the unique Souda Waterfall, a split waterfall, and was immediately impressed. We got a full gusher here, kids! I hope this is just the start of an amazing stop.

On the hike back down from the waterfall I got to enjoy some more incredible views of those mountains. This has turned out to be a really fantastic day, and its just supposed to be a travel day! Finally, I made it back to the car and had to do that crazy drive back down to the main road. After another couple of hours through more jaw dropping mountains, I arrived where I’ll be laying my head for the next several nights, Ioannina.

Ioannina is situated sort of right between two national parks. So my first official day I headed up another ridiculous set of roads deep into the first one, Tzoumerka National Park to the south. I drove for about an hour and a half until I got to the small village of Melissourgoi. I intended to hike out to Kryoneri Waterfall, but the trail was really overgrown and the river crossing seemed too treacherous, so I turned around. The most interesting things I saw in Melissourgoi were the local goats.

Just a few miles back down the road I set off on the second hike I had planned for this day, Kefalovryso Waterfall. This one was more like it! A hike through a beautiful pine forest with those astounding mountains peaking through the trees occasionally. Eventually, I came out of the forest and hiked across the rocky slopes until I found what I was looking for.

It wasn’t exactly a full gusher, but there was more than enough water to make it worth the trip.

And when I turned around I got some really incredible sweeping views of the valley. This whole part of Greece is so remote and so awesome! People don’t normally think of mountains when they think of Greece, but here they are. And here I am.

No matter which direction I’m traveling I’m constantly shocked at how impressive the views are. I stop a lot on the side of the road and jump out of the car with the camera locked and loaded.

The next day on yet another road deep into the mountains I got a great view of part of my route. The road twists and turns down into the valley and then climbs up the other side. At the bottom I stopped at another beautiful stone bridge. The cars “check engine” light had come on a little while ago and when I stepped out of the car I could smell something burning. Oh no!

Luckily, the car still seemed to be working fine, so I drove back up the hill to the nearest village and called it in. Long story short, a tow truck came and picked me up, drove me back to Ioannina, and then I had to wait until the next day for a new car. So I ended up exploring all the sites in the city for the rest of the day. We’ll talk more about that in a bit, though. I want to continue with Tzoumerka.

The next day I got a new car which was exactly the same as the old car, only this one didn’t smell like it was burning. So my next excursion into Tzoumerka was to another famous place, the Holy Kipinas Monastery, built right into the side of a cliff.

Kipinas Monastery was originally founded in 1212. Wow! When I first read about this place I thought it was going to be a really big place, but it was actually quite small and just a quick stop. Inside there is access to an apparently elaborate cave system which is off limits. Locals used to hide out in there during the Ottoman years. The frescoes in the main chapel were painted sometime in the 17th or early 18th century.

Luckily, there were a couple of other interesting things to see nearby the monastery since the drive was pretty long. These roads are fun, but also exhausting! First was the Filou Stone Bridge.

And right near the bridge I got to stretch my legs on a beautiful hike to the Kouiassa Waterfalls. The river here was amazing with lots of little cascades and waterfalls along the way. The main waterfall was so tall I couldn’t even see the top of it. As a consolation I got a rainbow, though, so it evened out.

I had just enough time as the sun was setting for the short walk to Plaka Stone Bridge. This is always marked as one of the most famous stone bridges in the area, though I’m not sure exactly why. It’s pretty impressive though. And walking up and over it is surprisingly steep.

Ioannina

Ioannina is set on the shore of beautiful Lake Pamvotida. My hostel is just a block or two from the water, but you can’t really see it from here because of that huge castle. Below is the street my hostel is on. That wall runs for about a half a mile and then circles around the little peninsula jutting out into the lake. It’s the Byzantine border of the “old town”.

On the other side of the walls I finally got to see Lake Pamvotida. This is the first time after three days in this city that I’m seeing it. It’s really beautiful and there’s a nice walking path along the whole shore, also with lots of restaurants and souvenir shops.

Inside the fortress is a small residential neighborhood with some ruins mixed in. In 1611, during the Ottoman years, a Greek Orthodox priest named Dionysios Philosofos led a revolt which ultimately failed. He hid in some caves for a bit but the Ottomans eventually caught him and flayed him alive. Gruesome! They also destroyed the Church of St John the Baptist and built the Arslan Pasha Mosque on top of the ruins which still stands to this day. Arslan Pasha was the local Ottoman ruler at the time.

At the top of the old town is the Acropolis of Ioannina, also known as Its Kale, which apparently is just Turkish for inner castle. This section is in ruins. I think it was mostly Ottoman construction, but what information I could find was a bit confusing. In any case, I had fun wandering around.

Also near the ruins of the inner castle is the Fethiye Mosque. It was originally built in the 15th century, but was expanded by Ali Pasha in the 19th century. He was the Ottoman ruler at that time who somehow ended up ruling his own autonomous region comprised of western Greece and stretching up into Albania. I saw a couple of his other castles in Albania a few years ago. That iron cage to the right of the mosque is Ali Pashas tomb.

The view of the other side of the lake from here ain’t too bad either.

The archeological museum here is open until 8pm. Much better than the usual 4pm like most museums. I had plenty of time for a visit. It was a fairly small museum, but had some cool artifacts, mostly from the site of Dodoni nearby. Below right is the late Epirote King Pyrrhus. He’s one of the few people who was able to defeat and fend off the Romans, for a while at least. His victories against the Romans were so costly it inspired a phrase we still use to this day, Pyrrhic victory.

Dodoni was known for its oracle, the Oracle of Dodoni. Also, the oldest known oracle in the ancient world. People would come and inscribe their questions on lead sheets like the ones below, and the oracle would answer them orally at the temple of Zeus.

The next day after getting my new car around noon, I headed out to the actual site of Dodoni. There wasn’t really enough time for any mountain excursions that day. Anyway, Dodoni is only about twelve miles from Ioannina and sits in a beautiful little valley of its own.

Dodoni has a couple of really important things here, first is its famous theatre, built in the 3rd century BC under King Pyrrhus. It’s one of the top three largest ancient theatres in Greece. Unfortunately, it’s falling apart so they have support structures in place holding it together, but it was quite a sight.

This place has been occupied since the bronze age, but it began being used as an open air temple to Zeus and a sight for the oracle in the 4th century BC. The oracle would divine the answers by reading the leaves and observing the activity of the birds on the big oak tree. Eventually a temple was built around the tree. The temple has crumbled but the foundations and the tree are still here.

Much much later, the Byzantines built a basilica on the site, of course. There were some floors covered with gravel, which usually means they’re protecting (hiding) some mosaics. I was just dying to see what was under there.

You can also see that the Byzantines used pieces from the old temples to build their churches. I found this piece sticking out of part of the basilica’s foundation.

Vikos National Park

For reasons I can’t understand, It seems like not too many people explore Tzoumerka very much, as amazing as it is. Most people come to Ioannina to see Vikos Gorge, the other national park to the north. Anyway, I guess now it’s time for me to spend my last two days seeing what all the fuss is about. It also decided to start raining these last two days which made it a bit challenging, but whatever, off I go.

I found the Kokkorou bridge just off the road. From there I hiked a couple of miles to the Misiou Stone Bridge. This marks the extreme southern terminus of Vikos Gorge. The whole area is stunningly beautiful, but I’m not even to the good parts yet.

Honestly, I got pretty lucky on both of these days. The rain was heavy in the morning and the evening, but thankfully it let up during the middle of the day so I was able to make it all the way up to hike to the Beloi Viewpoint. It’s one of the main viewpoints of the southern part of Vikos Gorge. There are a lot of crazy rocks up here, and I had to dodge a lot of cows too.

As you can see, autumn is in full force now. This was a beautiful hike!

Finally, I reached the viewpoint. What a sight! The Vikos Gorge, according to Guinness, is the deepest gorge in the world relative to its width. Seems a bit like splitting hairs to me, but either way, this is a tremendous sight! And this is just the southern part of it.

I spent the rest of the day seeking out more of those fascinating stone bridges. They’re scattered all over Epirus, but there’s a very heavy concentration of them in this area in particular. Each one has its own history, but they all seem to have been built in the 18th to early 19th centuries. They’re really interesting and provide wonderful excuses to wander off into the woods in search of them.

Dovris Stone Bridge, seen below, had been practically swallowed up by the modern road. Below that, the Kapetan Arkouda Stone Bridge was originally named something else, but was changed in the early 1900’s to honor a local boy who was also a trusted general of Ali Pasha.

The Konitsa Stone Bridge turned out to be a real treat. There was a nice little waterfall right next to it coming from what I assume is a watermill. You can see it through the bridge in the pic below. I also didn’t realize this when I came here, but this is the beginning of Aoos Gorge, another gorgeous gorge. And there was a trail! Yay! I couldn’t help but walk a couple of miles into that awesomeness.

Eventually, I made it to the northern part of Vikos Gorge. First, The Kleidonia Stone Bridge is at the extreme northern terminus of the gorge.

As I was driving up to the northern viewpoint the rain had started coming down again. I was thinking there’s no way I’m going to see anything up there now, but I went anyway. When I arrived, sure enough, just a sea of white fog. I waited about ten minutes when all of a sudden, the rain lightened up and the fog blew away. I swear that gorge was exposed for no more than about three or four minutes. I got some amazing pics of the northern part of Vikos Gorge, very very quickly, then behind me the clouds flowed back in, the rain turned back on, and the gorge was gone. What dumb luck!

On the way back to Ioannina I figured I had time for one more stop, so I drove up to do the short hike to Oxya Viewpoint back at the southern end of the gorge. It’s basically just the opposite cliff from the Beloi Viewpoint. The view from here was different, but no less breathtaking.

Now it’s time to head back to Ioannina, get some dinner, and get ready to leave tomorrow, but on the way I kept getting distracted by more astonishing views.

I also got blessed with this incredible double rainbow. I came around a bend in the road and BAM! I was so excited. What a great way to end this day!

If you made it all the way to the end of this post, congratulations. I know it was a long one. This was a really surprising part of Greece. I did not expect it to be THIS beautiful here! It was also a difficult stop, with car trouble, basically losing a whole day, and lots of rain the last couple of days, but I still managed to make it work out. I’m also looking forward to driving on some straight roads for a change. The next post will be a normal one, I promise. Stay tuned…