Greece - Korina Miller [247]
Police ( 23850 51202)
Steki ( 23850 51332; 6-10pm Tue-Sat) In neighbouring Lemos, this friendly community centre has internet access.
SIGHTS
Agios Athanasios and Agios Germanos, the village’s two churches, are extraordinary works of ecclesiastic mid-Byzantine architecture. The latter, named after the village’s patron saint, is a cosy, domed brick structure from the 11th century, which contains some vivid frescoes. An explanatory board provides background.
SLEEPING & EATING
Rooms Arhondiko ( 23850 46260; s/d €40/50; ) Another guest house with rustic charm, the Arhondiko has simple, clean rooms with balconies overlooking the water, and friendly service.
Agios Germanos Hostel ( 23850 51357; www.prespa.com.gr; s/d €40/60; ) Signposted just opposite Agios Germanos church, this restored old farmhouse offers wood-and-stone rooms and generous breakfasts.
To Petrino ( 23850 51344; s/d €45/60; ) The first hotel you’ll see when entering town, To Petrino is an appealing traditional guest house with rustic furniture and wood beams. The hospitable owners provide local travel information.
To Tzaki ( 23850 51470; mains €5-9) After the Church of Agios Germanos, this garden taverna offers great spare ribs, sweet red Florina peppers in oil, xinotyri (sour cheese) and a flaky pie stuffed with nettles (not the stinging kind!) called tsouknidopita. The white dog and cat get along well enough to beg for scraps as a team.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
From Florina, buses depart at 3pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for Agios Germanos (€4.80, 1½ hours), returning to Florina immediately.
Psarades Ψαρδες
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Situated on a gusty promontory at the southern end of Lake Megali Prespa, Psarades is a lovely, slightly disoriented village of old stone houses, with a friendly, mostly elderly Macedonian population, many of whom know it by its Macedonian-language name, Nivitsi (a kind of small local fish). It’s also the last Greek village before the aqueous trinational border, demarcated by a forlorn buoy.
Colourful caïques line Psarades’ lakefront, where unique, endemic miniature cows spar in the grass. The village’s upper streets (on the right-hand side of the main square) are totally authentic, filled with stone houses, jutting wood beams and drying blankets. You’ll hear the Macedonian language spoken widely here. In Psarades, as elsewhere in Greek Prespa, carp is served in fillets.
ORIENTATION & INFORMATION
The road into Psarades ends at a lakefront car park. Past it, the square hosts a taverna, shops, restaurants and domatia. The village’s houses fill the upper streets to the right. There’s a card phone, and all Greek mobile phone networks work.
SIGHTS
A boat trip on Megali Prespa to the south side of the lake’s three isolated askitiria (hermitages) begins with the 13th-century Metamorfosi, where scant remnants of original rich paintings, and two sections from the wood-carved temblon (votive screen) survive (the rest are now kept in Florina museum). The second hermitage, 15th-century Mikri Analipsi, and the equally old rock Church of Panagia Eleousa, tucked above a ravine, have beautiful frescoes. From the top of the stairs great views emerge of the lake and Albania opposite. More religious rock paintings visible opposite Psarades include Panagia Vlahernitisa (1455–56) and Panagia Dexiokratousa (1373).
Village fisherman can be approached, if one hasn’t already approached you, to make the excursion. It’s about €20 for a short tour to the rock paintings and one askitiria, or €25 for the full tour, with at least four people per boat. If you’re solo, hope for €30.
In Psarades itself, see the Church of Kimisis Theotokou (1893), adorned with the double-headed eagle of Byzantium. An inscription refers to the village by its original Macedonian-language name, Nivitsi.
SLEEPING & EATING
Book ahead in summer.
To Hagiati (s/d €35/45) This restored little stone house with