Enjoyable Tour of Zagori - 4N/5D

Flight From Mumbai To Athens

Private Transfer/Sedan - AC Airport Transfers Facilities: 3 Seater 2 Luggage Bags AC First AID  

Check-in to Hotel In  Acqua Blu Boutique Villas Includes       Breakfast Room Type  Deluxe Room

  Transport From Hotel For Activity private Transfer Facilities3 Seater | 2 Luggage Bags | AC | First Aid

Ioannina, the provincial capital, is a logical base for exploring Zagori. A charming and relaxed university town on the west shores of Lake Pamvotida, its historic center still stands behind fortified walls. Ioannina’s rich Byzantine and Ottoman heritage comes alive in the well-preserved Kastro (castle). Initiated in 528 CE by Emperor Justinian (making it Greece’s oldest castle), it attained its zenith during the Ottoman Empire with the addition of a harem and the Fethiye Mosque. The erstwhile mosque today hosts the Municipal Ethnographic Museum of Ioannina, displaying a miscellany of historical artifacts that honor the Islamic and, intriguingly, Jewish heritage of the town. Don’t miss the tomb of regional ruler Ali Pasha (1740-1822), also within the Kastro precincts.

A five-minute walk southwest of the old town brings you to the must-see Archaeological Museum of Ioannina, with displays spanning the eons from Neolithic times to the late Roman period. During ancient times, the road linking Rome and Constantinople (the "Egnatia") ran through Ioannina, lending the city great import.

Ioannina’s other draw is the lake, especially in spring when wildflowers bloom and the forests become a vibrant green. Stroll the lakefront promenade, or take a water-taxi to Ioannina Island, home to no less than seven monasteries, including Moni Strategopoulos, home to impressive frescoes. 

Transport From Hotel For Activity private Transfer Facilities3 Seater | 2 Luggage Bags | AC | First Aid

When talk turns to Greek clifftop monasteries, Meteora is often the first place that springs to mind. But the Moni Kipinas monastery, in the rugged Tzoumerka mountains 15 miles southeast of Ioannina, offers just as dramatic a location. Clinging to the rock face like a bees’ nest, this simple stone-and-wood monastery was built in 1212 CE. It features a wooden drawbridge that served to protect the ascetic monks from raids during the Ottoman period, and its chapel is adorned with frescoes. It’s easily accessed via a cobbled path that leads from the parking lot (where you pick up the key to the monastery at a kiosk), one mile east of the hamlet of Mistras.

Speckled throughout one of the least densely populated regions of Greece are 40-plus settlements known as the Zagori villages. Declared a national historical monument, these humble villages of stone cottages with mossy slate roofs were once connected by kalderimi (cobbled footpaths), switchback staircases, and stone bridges arching over the Voidomatis River. Some homes have ceilings adorned with wood carvings; others have frescoes. Hiking between these villages is one of the best excursions in Greece.

The 18th-century bridges, called gefiri, are concentrated around the village of Kipi, three miles southeast of Monodendri (longer if you straighten out the kinks in the road snaking down into the valley). The gefiri are named by local families who financed the projects: the single-arch Gefiri Kokkori leaps the river beneath a rock column 1.5 miles west of Kipi, and the double-arch Gefiri Milos is 400 yards south of Kipi. The most spectacular is Gefiri Plakida, a triple-arched bridge 600 yards downstream (southwest) of Kipi. There are many more.

Private Transfer/Sedan - AC Airport Transfers Facilities: 3 Seater 2 Luggage Bags AC First AID