5 posts tagged “hiking”
We left Ioannina and drove north to Zagori, a collection of villages on either side of the Vikos Gorge, not too far from the Albanian border. Many of the villages don't allow cars within them, and even if they did, driving on the steeply inclined cobbles wouldn't be much good for your car, though it's a damn good work out for you!
We planned to stay at Aghios Nikolas, as my boyfriend and I camped there on our previous visit. It's up a long muddied road, far from traffic (well traffic on four wheels, there's plenty of animal life around there - including the giant cow-belled goat). We checked it was still a viable option and found it had been built up since our visit in May, there was stonework around the tree (thankfully now mostly sans giant spiders), a path and table all made from local stone. All looking good we went off in search of tea. Our first choice in Dilofo was shut, so we drove around the villages until we found a small café/taverna in Kipi, complete with open fire and a bunch of curious locals. We sipped our coffees and had some rather tasty marrow pie for dinner before heading back to set up camp. The sun had long been set, so our source of light was the car headlights. Unfortunately we left them on too long and they drained the battery. There was nothing we could do, so we lit a fire and opened a bottle of wine.
The night was really, really f*cking cold.
Despite sleeping in good tents, with correctly graded sleeping bags,
matts and all that malarky, I spent a good few hours physically
shivering from the cold. Brrr. Not nice. When my boyfriend got up to light a fire in the morning, he wrapped his sleeping bag around me, I stopped shivering and nodded off to sleep.
After a few hours delay trying to sort out the car, it was getting on and we weren't in much of a mood for a six hour hike (not to mention, we didn't have enough daylight time left), we opted for the touristy approach. We stopped at some of the bridges the area is famed for. Next it was onto Sterna, a lovely café in Kapesovo, where every last little nook and cranny is used to store their wares - dried teas, herbs and mushrooms, local honey, jar upon jar of spoon sweets, handmade jewellery and various handicrafts. It hadn't been open, but a local man saw us walk past and opened it for us, calling the actual shop keeper to come and tend us. As there was no fire inside, we sat basking in the sun, sipping our mountain tea with honey.
After our tea and purchasing various items to take home, we drove
around a while and ended up in Tsepelovo for what was one of the best
meals I've had, ever. Fact. We were all very hungry, mountain air will
do that to you, so we ordered accordingly. There was a very tasty
salad; a local cheese dip, somewhat similar to my beloved tyrokafteri
but creamier; a delicious vegetable pie, filled with various greens,
the obligatory local pie of Zagori (for which the area is famed - it's
bridges and pies in this neck of the woods); some saganaki, which while
I swore I'd never eat saganaki again, they offered Mestovone saganaki
and I was sold. There were also some local sausages, which I admit I
did have a taste of. Just writing this out is making me hungry again!
Despite being in somewhat of a food coma, we made our way to Monodendri where we walked down to the now abandoned Monastery of Agia Paraskevi, which offers spectacular views of the gorge. We then made our way towards the caves, each stopping at our own spot where we could no longer continue (as the paths are thin to non-existent at times). We walked back as the sun was going down and quite frankly I can think of nothing more terrifying than having to walk blind when there is a kilometre long drop should you put one step wrong.
We were all pretty much beat by this time, but it was far too early to
call it a night, so we stopped by the same café/taverna in Kipi (as
nothing else seemed to be open, due to the season not starting for
another couple of days) for some coffee and warmth before heading back
to the campsite and falling into 'bed' after huddling around the fire.
We were so tired, we didn't even bother opening the bottle of wine!
As we were prepared, we all slept a little better, wrapped up in thermals and various layers of clothing, with added clothes in the sleeping bags to pad them up. It was still cold, but at least I wasn't shivering much. In the morning, there was coffee and de-camping before driving to see a couple more bridges and then sadly leaving the un-hiked gorge behind as we moved onto our next destination - Metsovo.
A slight alteration of plan, we ended up changing our minds and going to Zagori, Meteora and Metsovo instead of Konitsa. Beautiful scenery which could not be captured by a camera, so calm and relaxing. I can't wait to go back in July, when there will be more time to visit the places we merely touched.
From a visit to Desfina, earlier in the year, when we went hiking on the mountain side and amongst some caves in the area with a view over the Gulf of Corinth.
On Vardousia, after getting the car bogged we decided on going for a hike on the mountain and I got rather excited at all the snow and dived onto (or should that be into?) it.
On the March 24th, having heard that there was fresh snow we decided to go for a drive to Vardousia, this is the view we found at the beginning of our journey.
