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Metsovo
Zagorohoria Vikos Gorge
Ioannina, the
capital of
Epirus,
21 km.(13 miles) northeast of Dodone on Lake Pambotis, may have
been in existence as early as the 6th century AD, but the city
came into its own only with the occupation of Constantinople,
the capital of Byzantium by the Crusaders or Frank in 1204.
Henceforth, Ioannina, or the city of St John, would be a
centre of continued Greek resistance, an independent Byzantine
state. Michael I Comnenos Ducat of Epirus founded the state of Epirus, whose governmental seat was Arta, and ceeded
Ioannina to Byzantine refugees.
The city and its island became a thriving
Christian centre, which held out against the Ottoman Turks until 1430.
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The Ottoman
occupation of Ioannina lasted 482 years, during which
time the city's famous guilds flourished, and Christians
and Jews, respected by the Moslems as monotheistic "People
of the Book", were organized according to profession or
trade. Even now, Ioannina retains some of this
atmosphere of a guild town. The main commercial street is
still lined with silversmiths, for Ioannina was once
famous for its filigree and niello work and the tradition
persists. The capital and Epirus villages in the Pindus
such as Syraco and Kalarites, became known for their
master jewelers.
On the little
island in the lake Pambotis, restaurants
now vie for customers who are ferried over from Ioannina
by motor launch. Live trout, eels crayfish and frogs swim
in tanks from which visitors may select their dinners,
then sit by the waters of the lake, feeding ducks and
swans that glide in the tiny harbor full of working
watercraft. Primitive boat-building works still operate
on the island, lone masters bending plans over fires to
temper the wood.
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Metsovo 56 km (35 miles)
northeast of Ioannina is one of the most traditional villages of
Greece. Located beneath the Katara Pass, on the route between
Meteora
and western Epirus, this has
long been an important site for shepherds and has been made rich
by wealth derived from the flocks. While the old fellows on the
square are happy to direct visitors to the stunning Tositsa
family mansion, now a museum of Epirus life, art forms and the
thriving Metsovo Folk Cooperative, which still produces the
famous Metsovitico wood carvings, embroideries, weavings and
brass work, they will also caution you about wolves down in the
valley near the 14th century monastery of Aghios Nikolaos.
In the main square of
Metsovo few of the elderly gentlemen sitting in the sun outside
the kafeneia
and souvlaki shops still wear the old hobnailed
and black pompomed tsarouchia,
part of the age - old Vlach and Saracatsan costume. Only one man now wears
the black kilt, or foustanella , white wool
leggings and black cap. |
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The best known shoes
in Greece are the tsarouchia. The original name
of these shoes was pinges, the sole studded with nails and a
large pompom on the upturned fore part. The shoe endures as a
national symbol and the heavy, hobnailed slippers are still worn
by the honorary evzone guard outside the presidential palace in Athens. The older residents
of Metsovo and environs may be difficult to understand, as
Vlachika, their language, is not Greek at all , but a romance language,
Latin - based and reminiscent of Romanian. The Vlachswere a pastoral people who lived mainly in Pindos. This large
mountain range, with its many elevations, suited their lifestyle:
to find food for their livestock they had to move to lower
levels in the winter, when snow covered the mountains and the
temperatures fell; in the summer, when the snow melted, they
would move back to higher, cooler and greener areas - summer is
never dry on these mountains.
The Epirotes-Vlachs,
several of whom used to be rich lords in their regions, have an interesting
cuisine that reflects their pastoral tradition.
They are famous for their
delicious pites that are baked in large round pans. Those thin pies, filled with
all sorts of seasonal vegetables and cheese, and wrapped in thin, homemade filo
pastry, are served in all the restaurants of the area. In the morning, women
with large families to cook for, arrive with their
tapsia,
huge round or rectangular baking tins, full of lamb and
potatoes or pastitsio. Until very recently, one
would find non- Ioannion bakers only in remote,
undesirable locations of the country and chances are even today
in Athens or Thessaloniki, the local baker will be from
Epirus. The bakery where
Ioannion bakers produce not only the horiatiko psomi,
or village bread and frantzoles, long white
loaves, favored by modern housewives, but also paximathia,
rusks and specialty breads and biscuits, plus feast and holy-day
breads.
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Epirus is the cloud -covered
crown of Greece, west of the Ionian sea, and the
islands of Corfu, Paxi and tiny Antipaxi and east of the long,
rocky spine of the towering Pindus mountain
range, the region's natural frontier with Thessaly. To the
north is Albania, inhospitable and inscrutable behind an uneasy border
frequently violated by the region's hardy Vlach and Sarakatsan shepherds and
their flocks.
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Going
from Epirus to Mt Pelion, east of the Pindos, or to western Macedonia, but also
traveling through the neighboring Balkan countries, one notices striking
similarities in architectural style.
The builders and stonemasons of Epirus were famous in the old days.
Originating from the villages north of Aoos river, they traveled all over the
area, undertaking constructions in distant places.
They built private homes and public buildings, churches, monasteries and
bridges. Epirus, along with northwestern Macedonia, has numerous beautiful,
arched stone bridges, some of which are still in use.
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As there are lots of rivers and streams, there are bridges everywhere; most of
them built during the Ottoman period. Unfortunately, today there are very few
skilled stonemasons to continue the tradition.
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Pindos mountains, with their lush
forests, rivers and gorges, the habitat of rare birds and animals,
illustrates yet another very different and lesser-known aspect of
the varied Greek landscape.
In the dramatically
beautiful region of Zagori in
Epirus,
high in the Pindus mountains, intrepid visitors
will still find vast, untouched Mediterranean forests. Away from
the herds, beech forests thrive and near the Aspropotamos
River, mixed forests of beech, fir and black pine
flourish.
Here, on the Voithomatis River,
which cuts through the Vikos Gorge in a fierce
flood of turquoise, plane trees and saplings shade the forest
floor. An interesting
characteristic of the area around the Vikos Gorge was the
abundance of wandering folk doctors, who claimed to cure many
diseases with the many regional wild herbs.
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Zagorohoria.
Epirus's traditional
villages and the traditional way of life mirrored in the
arrangement of their structures, the activities and beliefs of
their inhabitants, are fast becoming the stuff of legend, the
stock of museums. Fortunately, keeping pace with the demise of
villages and village life, with the development of communities,
is an acute awareness on the part of the Epirotes, scholars and
lay people alike, of their tremendous cultural value.
As the
straight flute of floyera , becomes an
anachronism it and its music, are being documented and preserved
for prosperity. As villagers leave the Zagorohoriafor the last time, descending to the warm lowlands that promise
an easier life, the Greek government is going in and creating
living museums out of the stone and hewn-oak houses. In fact, one
plan has been proposed that would make the entire of zagori a sort of rustic
theme park, to which admission would be charged.
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Voithomatis
river rushes past the foot of the Vikos Gorge cliff face . Attached like a stylize
atop the rock perches the little monastery of Aristi
Spiliotissa, the Exalted Virgin of the
Cave. Here cherry trees blossom in spring.
In summer
their fruit tempts the European brown bear to descend
from higher ground. The chamois and wolf are also
infrequent visitors.
The lynx is
another of Europe s endangered species, living today only
in Spain, and perhaps in this gorge.
The Sus
scrofa, or wild boar, is sighted more
often and the Egyptian vulture soars in the clear air
above the deep chasm.
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Monasteries here such as Aghia
Paraskevi and Aghios Athanasios, are being
lovingly renovated in authentic Zagorian
style and the villages of the Zagorohoria
are coming alive again after a
century of decline as the sons and daughters of Zagorians come to
realize they have a unique cultural heritage worthy of
preservation.
Traveling through the 40-odd villages lying
between Ioannina, Konitsa and the Albanian border, one
traverses some of the most spectacular scenery in Europe.
In fact according to mountaineer
Konstantinos
Vassiliou, the Vikos Gorge is the
largest in Europe and Sheep's Gulf, where the Vikos Gorge
bisects the Gamila massif, with its absolute vertical of
over 400 metres (1,312feet), is the world's second
highest sheer drop.
Valia Calda is
surrounded by mountains, and the river Arkoudorema,
the Stream of the Bears, which crosses the little valley. The river s
name is not accidental, and indeed this is one of the few places in
Greece still inhabited by bears. The dense, protected forest is still
a good habitat for this most rare, beautiful and strong of creatures.
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Apart from the natural beauty of the region, some of
most wonderful villages of Greece are scattered here. The Zagoria are remnants of a flourishing culture of
the past. The area was at its zenith in the 17th century, having
gained some sort of advanced autonomy from the Ottoman rulers.
Many Zagorgiani
emigrated overseas, mostly to Russia and Romania, where they prospered greatly.
Others traded in the Balkans, and accumulated large fortunes.
Thus, with their
contributions, they helped their homeland and the war of Greek Independence.
Education was greatly encouraged in Zagoria, and women studied along with men.
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Villages like Papingo
provided a himathia, or winter refuge, for the
shepherds and settled Sarakatsani, the former Skinites,
or tent-dwellers. Today, the villages
of Megalo and
Mikro Papingo,
on the slopes of Mount Timfri, lie with in the
territory of the protected - Aoos National
Park.
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 The area may be
depopulated today, but the beautiful large private homes and
public buildings are a testament to the flourishing past. Their
grey, heavy stone roofs rise over the thick vegetation. Stone-paved
streets cross the villages. The houses are built with stones and
wood, and their walls are thick to withstand the harsh weather
conditions and the winter snow.
Stone-built walls surround the yards, which are guarded by beautiful, heavy,
wooden gates. Fortunately, many of these buildings now
have been restored and modernized properly, and several have been turned into
hotels and pensions, retaining the traditional style. What is more important is that the area
has kept its serenity and is rarely crowded with people
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