Greece Travels, Summer 2010

As on our first visit to Greece in 2002, we started in Thessaloniki, the de facto northern capital. We used frequent flier miles to get to Prague, found cheap airfares to Thessaloniki on Malev, the Hungarian airline, and good rates on a rental car from Thrifty. Our plan was to drive across the breadth of mountainous northern Greece to the Ionian Sea, in one day. The recently-completed EU-funded highway made this possible. However, we encountered a detour about 3 hrs into the drive, which took us over a high mountain pass on narrow, winding roads, adding probably 1.5 hrs to the drive. We had no complaints, though, as the route was very scenic. We arrived a little after 10 pm, thankful that the maps on my new cell phone guided us through the narrow streets of Parga to our pension.

We chose to make Parga, a fishing village on a picturesque bay, as our base. Although tourism is clearly a large factor in the local economy, many still work the olive groves and fishing boats, and life on the backstreets away from the waterfront appears have remain unchanged for centuries. The town is built on a steep slope dropping into a bay with several small islets, giving the town the feel of a Greek island. The tourist season had not quite gotten into full swing when we arrived, but by the time we left 10 days later, the waterfront was noticeably more crowded on our evening strolls.

One of the main reasons for choosing Parga was the numerous beautiful beaches available - three within walking distance of where we were staying and many more up and down the coast, ranging from small coves accessed by really bad dirt roads (built for the olive groves) to broad sandy beaches that we had pretty much to ourselves.

We stayed in a family-run pension 2 blocks from the beach. We had a refrigerator in our room and access to a kitchen, so we prepared our own breakfasts and lunches, but ate out every night. There were probably 30 or more tavernas to choose from within walking distance. One thing we never lacked was access to good food. That's one of the things we love about Greece. The smallest village will have 1 or 2 tavernas in which you can always get a good vegetarian meal.

One day we made an excursion to the Pindos mountains of Ioannina Prefecture. The region of deep canyons and thick forests has been difficult to access through much of history, remaining autonomous during the Ottoman Empire and flourishing through the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. The Zagorian people who live there (zagoria meaning land behind the mountains) established 46 mountainside villages, building houses entirely from the local slate and constructing a series of amazing stone bridges that are still standing. Dominating the landscape is the Vikos gorge, deeper, it is said, than the Grand Canyon. We hiked to an overlook on the eastern rim and then drove to village of Monodentri and visited the nearby Agia Paraskevi Monastery, built in 1412, which is perched on the western edge of the gorge.

Another interesting spot we visited on another day was the Nekromanteion of Acheron, or oracle of the dead, where evidence indicates worship of the gods of the underworld has been carried out since the 14th century BC. It contains the palace of Hades and Persephone, where people went to meet with the souls of the dead.

I should add that we encountered no problems related to the current economic situation in Greece (but did see a sign in the window of a shop in the tourist section of Parga that read "crises prices"). Also, it seems that now a great deal more signage is in both Greek and English.

In all a great trip. We vowed to return, especially to Zagoria and spend more time roaming those mountains and villages.

Photos from the trip are here.