Greece Days 5-7: Where the Villages are Perfect and Tiny, and the Monasteries Old and Crumbly, and There are Caves.

 

The region we are visiting, known as Zagori, comprises 46 villages, all connected by trail or road, and all part of a designated UNESCO World Heritage site. They really are ridiculously picturesque, with their casual I-woke-up-like-this slightly ruined, rustic-chic thing going on. We had big plans to drive to this beach or that landmark while here but this area has so much to offer we've been more inclined to drive 10km instead of 100km, and hang out with the locals in their cute little cafes.

And so on Sunday we packed up the tin can (rental car) and drove out from Aristi (our village) and up the winding road across the valley from us to the villages of Megalo and Mikro Papingo. 

Watching cars drive down this road in the evening when it is getting dark is like watching
a Wes Anderson movie.

A quick word about the Greek language: It is largely impenetrable, for the most part due to the Cyrillic alphabet which takes some serious work if you want to make any sense of it at all. However, there are a lot of Greek words in English and that helps with recognition and understanding. We have had a few laughs, and by 'we' I mean I have had a few laughs at Kent's expense as he keeps saying "Kalamari" to the hotel staff in the morning instead of "Kalimera" (good morning). They politely smile and say "Kalimera" while I'm doubled over in the background wheezing. He has threatened to start saying "melikalikimaka" which is Hawaiian for Merry Christmas just to really mix things up. Anyway we quickly, using our megalo brains, figured out that Megalo Papingo would be the larger of the two and went there first. The sun was shining and the birds were out and it was gorgeous.

Mikro Papingo was just a lovely. These villages are protected by UNESCO standards and look much how they have looked for centuries. Many of them were occupied by Nazi forces during the occupation of 1941-1945, and, being Nazis, they torched some of the towns before they left, so there are ruins and old structures that have collapsed over time, but it all adds to the character and atmosphere. 

After walking our 9800 steps for the day around the villages, and eating some obligatory homemade spinach pie and Greek salad at a lovely little restaurant, we reluctantly got back in the car. Just outside the village is a series of rockpools carved by the water through the soft limestone over time. When there isn't a drought, like there is right now, the pools fill with crystal clear water but now there was only a small amount of water flowing. Still, it was very cool and we walked up and back through the small canyon.

Everywhere you look here the rock formations are stunning.

Having missed out on a swim at the rockpools, we stopped at the Voidomatis river where the rafting companies put in. Such cute little boats they use here!

The water was outrageous again and Kent jumped in for a quick swirl in the clear blue current.

We had one more stop to make before collapsing at the hotel and that was to visit an ancient abandoned monastery built in and on a giant rock.

It was, like everything here, deserted and we were the only ones there. We ignored some signs in Greek and headed off down a beautiful forest path.

The monastery was built sometime in the 1600's and, like everything here, seemed to serve a purpose of sheltering the locals from the Turks in their various marauding stages.

When we arrived at the door (which has had some modern maintenance), I was a bit disappointed that it was locked.

But then I noticed a path leading around the side of the building and voila, there was the other side of the locked door.  

There's a joke here somewhere about how when one door is locked, another one, or in this case the same door, is also open.

Anyway, the whole place was falling down but still beautiful.

We found a slippery crumbling path around the back and clambered up to the Belfry where the 100s year old bell was still in working order.

The view from the belfry was fantastic but the whole place had a little bit of a creepy Dan Brown meets Picnic at Hanging Rock feel to it. I kept looking around for a monk in a black robe with burning coals for eyes but fortunately didn't see one. Just these folks who seem to have some sort of tiny man-child version of Bill Murray in their midst. 

Actually I read later that these murals were done sometime in the late 1600s so that's pretty impressive. And they are outside and unprotected from the elements.

Back at the hotel we had just enough energy to eat something and then collapse into a coma for the night.

Monday morning arrived with clouds and rain although it was still beautiful.

Kent had to work for most of the day so we didn't go anywhere, except to the spa later for some treatments and then dinner at the hotel. I'm not sure if it's the mountain air or the visits from Mr. J. Lag, but we have been unable to keep our eyes open past about 9:30pm. Not even the dogs keep us awake despite their best efforts. 

Tuesday we woke up to rain and after a bit of work, headed into Ioannina, the local town, for a visit. Zeus was annoyed about something and the thunder was rumbling and lightening bolts flashing but we still had a wander around the town. The Greek Orthodox church dominates here and many of the stores carry religious iconry and art. It's all very stylized and looks much as it has for hundreds of years.

it doesn't seem to matter where you are in Europe, the religious artists always struggle with making baby Jesus look like a baby, rather than a midget. It's a bit disconcerting.

Despite the rain there was lots to see here.

Before driving the 45 mins back to Aristi, we decided to visit a local cave used as refuge by local civilians during the war. It was pretty impressive.

This cross is thought to have been somehow made by human influence as the cave has been used in one form or another for thousands of years.

It  was a 1.1km walk with some very low and tight spots were I tried not to think about the 35 meters of rock over my head.

Me after my walk through the cave.

We drove back home and crashed again in the giant comfy bed, the sound of rain pattering on the terrace outside. Only two days left here!