Greece - Korina Miller [269]
From here it’s a 30-minute hike to the sublime Drakolimni (Dragon Lake), though returning takes 45 minutes. From Drakolimni, the spectacular ascent to Mt Gamila is a tougher hike, and takes four hours. Another five hours from Gamila brings you finally to Tsepelovo. Alternatively, from Gamila hike up to Vrisohori, along the Aoös River, with crystal-clear mountain springs.
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This view is part of the explanation for the enormous, 13.5m-high Loumidi Mansion, visible on the left-hand side when entering Dilofo. The story goes that after a young woman from Koukouli was wedded to a Dilofo man, she became so homesick that she wanted to return to her village. The father of the groom instead ordered the erection of a house tall enough for the woman to see her parents’ house across the valley – and so it was.
Dilofo’s small plateia features an enormous, 400-year-old plane tree, a card telephone and taverna. There are limited, though excellent, accommodation options, and the setting is undeniably tranquil.
In Dilofo’s upper part, the Church of Kimisis Theotokou (Dormition of the Virgin), has an intricate, hand-carved wooden iconostasis and nice icons. It’s open for Sunday liturgy, or find village doctor Giorgos Triandafilidis, who has the key.
Although few know it, Dilofo is also an entry point for hiking the Vikos Gorge (left); starting here rather than in Monodendri makes the route even longer.
A nice excursion 13km east is Negades, a stone-housed village with little tourism. The 20-minute drive involves superb views of delicate stone bridges spanning densely wooded valleys and imposing cliffsides.
Negades’ impressive post-Byzantine Church of Agios Georgios (1792) is sumptuously decorated with exquisite icons and a gilded, hand-carved wood iconostasis, and lined with wall-to-wall frescoes, including rare paintings of pagan philosophers Aristotle and Plutarch. Don’t leave without seeing the church’s back section, where women were sent behind a grill to observe the service. The persuasive frescoes here, apparently created for purposes of moral edification, include a depiction of Judas being devoured by a sea monster, and a scrawny devil apparently riding and beating a bedded husband and wife who were too lazy to get up for church.
Since the church isn’t always open, plan in advance with Giorgos Kontaxis at the EOT in Ioannina, or at his Dilofo guest house, the Arhontiko Dilofo (see opposite).
Monodendri, Vitsa & Ano Pedina
Μοοδέδρι, Βτσα & Αω Πεδι
Thirty-eight kilometres north of Ioannina, Monodendri is Zagorohoria’s main settlement, close to the Vikos Gorge. It’s signposted right off the main Ioannina–Konitsa road near Karyes. Hikers, sightseers and weekending couples have made Monodendri one of the most-visited villages, though it’s still reasonably relaxing.
Agia Paraskevi Monastery here has spectacular gorge views. According to legend, local lord Mihalis Voevodas Therianos founded the church in 1413 to thank God for healing his daughter of an incurable illness. The church’s frescoes partially date to the 15th century. A second Monodendri church, the cross-domed Church of Agios Minas near the square, dates from the early 17th century (as do some frescoes inside).
South of Monodendri, Vitsa, is less visited and more aesthetically pleasing. In Byzantine times, it was a major settlement called Vizitsini. Vitsa also has a cross-domed church built concurrently with Monodendri’s Agios Minas, the Church of Agios Nikolaos.
Most intriguingly, between Monodendri and Vitsa lie remnants of an ancient Molossi settlement (9th century to 4th century BC). Ancient Epiros was ruled by the Molossi and King Pyrrhos. Parts of ancient houses and graves from here are in Ioannina’s (temporarily closed) Archaeological Museum.
From Vitsa, drive 7.2km west-northwest to reach Ano Pedina, more touristy but a good base for exploring the central Zagorohoria. The village has many guest houses, some quite striking.
Aristi to the Papingo Villages
Driving up the vertiginous, ribboning northern road to Megalo Papingo and Mikro