Exploring Zagoria, Greece (aka sheep everywhere)

Today in Zagoria involved the patented Lovett-Lucas death march, which includes hours of driving and thousands and thousands of steps. It started with a breakfast overlooking the Vikos Gorge as the sun rose over the mountains--fresh grilled vegetables from the greenhouse, tomatoes and feta, crumbly yellow cake with honey and strawberry jam, and a spinach pastry. 

I also was very excited to see Greek Donald Duck and family in the reading nook, since as we all know I love Donald Duck, and especially foreign Donald Duck. 

The first leg of our drive was to see some of the area's 45 famous stone bridges, part of a network of trails connecting the villages. The bridges were built during the 18th to 19th centuries, during the Ottoman occupation, and each one had a donor--either a wealthy landowner or a monastery--to cover the cost.

But first, since it was early morning, we had to dodge herds of sheep in the road heading to pasture. You'd first see a few lookout dogs in the front, and then around the bend you'd see the herd of sheep and goats and the shepherd, and then finally a few dogs bringing up the rear. And by the way, these dogs are terrifying--I had the window down to film, and one of them tried to come through it at me. Don't mess with their sheep, I guess. 

On the way to our first bridge, we stopped in the town of Dilofo, an almost-deserted stone village with only ten permanent residents (per the internet). There was of course no one around, so we had it to ourselves as we rambled around and took pictures. Also, Mom, what are these pink flowers? 

Then finally, a bridge! It was built in 1806 and named Captain Bear Bridge after a Macedonian chieftain killed by the Turks. 

 

Captain Bear Bridge was quite small, but the next bridge was truly astounding, built up against a giant stone outcropping. It was built in 1750 and sponsored by a noble of Zagori who had a position in the court of Ali Pasha, the famed Ottoman Albanian ruler (mentioned in The Count of Monte Cristo, so now I know who that is! Look at all the learning happening in northern Greece). The bridge is high above the river, or what would be the river were it not so dry and hot, and you can still walk across it. 

I took this picture below because I love all the striations of rock--is that black marble? Is it granite? I don't know, but I was impressed. 

From that bridge it was on to the village of Kipi, to see the Plakidas Bridge, one of the few triple-arched bridges in the area. You can only see two in the picture, but it was a long hike down and, as I mentioned, quite hot. 

Stone outcroppings near Plakidas Bridge. 

From the bridge, we head to the town of  Monodendri and rambled for a while, and then moved on to the town of Vikos to find the lookout over the gorge. The streets are empty because it's about 9 am, and no one is awake. You're beautiful, but I think I know why your economy struggles, Greece. 

The lookout over the gorge was unbelievable--since it was early, the pictures are still a little hazy, but it makes you feel dwarfed and inconsequential and totally in awe of nature to see it all spread out before you. We could see a few intrepid hikers far below filling their water jugs at a public fountain before they set out on what was sure to be an exhausting walk (12 miles and 6 hours, to be exact). 

 

After the gorge, we started to wind our way back to Arist (literally--the roads are hairpin sharp) and stopped off at the Voidamatis River. The water is beautiful, about 45 degrees, and draws the outdoorsy types for rafting and riverwalking. 

This is when Taylor said "why don't you get a picture in the water, your sandals are wet/dry, it will be great!"

This is me about 45 seconds later when my feet were burning with cold and I couldn't get out fast enough. 

A view of the bridge--which is one lane and quite scary to go over since there's no light and no visibility. 

After the bridge, we decided to skip past our village and to go Papigo, up an incredibly winding road that gave me intense anxiety--no side rails here--to a restaurant I'd read about called Papigo Towers, where you could look out over the gorge while you ate traditional Zagori cuisine. 

Our view from the restaurant, and the menu. 

We started off with a feta, milk, and egg pie in flaky dough (a regional specialty) and also feta baked in phyllo dough and drizzled with honey and sesame seeds. The pie was just okay--it kind of tasted like a breaded omlette--but the feta was amazing. 

We also had hot, crispy fried covered in oregano, which was a revelation to me, and now I always want oregano on my fries. 

Taylor and lamb chops, his favorite food ever. We shared these but he ate most of them, as I'm a picky baby and I don't care for meat that is on the bone or fatty (makes it a little too real for this girl). 

After lunch, it was time for a visit to the Papigo Rock Pools. You follow a little trail from the road and suddenly find yourself at a succession of waterfalls and pools between jagged rock walls, with salamanders and frogs zipping about below you. 

There are frogs in the picture on the right, I promise. Also, on the way to Ioannina we sat behind a quite pungent young man on the plane who I named Chonk, because I'm mean but also very funny, and then who did we see at the rock pools two hours away in the middle of nowhere but Chonk again! The world is very small, and also everyone please shower every day in the summer. It's important. 

Back in Aristi (which is only about 12 km from Papigo but a 30 min drive because of the roads), we took a walk to explore some more of the village. Along the way we saw an abundance of wild blackberries and blueberries, growing up and over trees and fences alike. 

Below are some views of Aristi, including a small restaurant that roasts its chicken outside to entice anyone walking by (mainly Taylor--we would indeed go back and eat that chicken another day). 

We ended up at Joya, the bar where we had gone the night before but not paid, so we could settle our bill with Rania. Taylor had a pale ale with Tito the cat and Rania brought me a plate of cheese, which I absolutely could not eat but stuffed in my purse so as not to be rude. 

The path back up to the hotel--it looks shaded and lovely but I was panting and near death when we reached the top. Did you know everything in Zagori is uphill? Fun fact, it is. 

The afternoon brought a rainstorm across the mountain, which we watched from our room. 

And the below is a hazy close-up of the hairpin road up to Papigo. Taylor is a fearless driver, but cursed with a very fearful passenger who squeaks and hisses a lot. 

And finally, I tried to upload a video of the sheep and goats while we were driving--hopefully it works! I don't know if I get as excited about anything as I do about livestock in the road.