Far From the Greece of Classical Antiquity

“In the mountain villages of northern Greece, life moves to the slow rhythm of the seasons, punctuated now and then by the feast days of the saints.” So wrote the American journalist Nicholas Gage--born Nicola Gatzoyiannis--in his haunting memoir, “Eleni,” which described his childhood in the wild hill country, known as Epirus, that pushes up to the Albanian border.

Accessible only by car, Epirus is a province that few tourists visit. Bordered on the west by the Ionian Sea and on the east by the districts of Thessaly and Macedonia, it is a region of shattered ridges and snowcapped peaks. White-water streams plunge through dark ravines. Gray stone hamlets cling to wooded slopes, and wolves and bear prowl forests of oak and fir. Jackdaws soar on updrafts along valley walls.

It was in search of this contained world that my wife and I drove deep into the Pindus Mountains last fall on a journey that would take us far from the travel-poster Greece of classical antiquity.

In doing so, we became travelers in another century. With a little effort at learning the language--my wife is good enough at it to be conversational--we were greeted, questioned, cosseted, accepted. We were no longer tourists skimming the surface of an alien culture. Our jumping-off point, Ioannina (pronounced YAH-nee-nah), is a sprawling provincial capital built around the walled remains of a much earlier settlement. Ioannina lies only 30 miles from the nearest Albanian border crossing.

East of the city, the main road linking western Greece to Athens and the Aegean Sea, some 230 miles to the southeast, straggles up the Pindus crests. It climbs 30 miles to Metsovo, an Epirot village of balconied stone houses and steep cobbled lanes.

We took this road on an early morning drive out of Ioannina through alpine meadows and forests of larch, fir and oak, stopping for lunch at Votonossi, a village perched on the lip of a dizzying ravine.

Metsovo and a neighboring hamlet, Anilho, are home to an ancient Balkan people, the Vlachs.

Throughout the district, grizzled old shepherds wear a traditional costume of black skirts over white woolen leggings. Women dress without affectation in richly embroidered cloaks and ankle-length gowns.

The Vlachs continue to speak a Latin-based dialect similar to Romanian. Visitors invariably are struck by the familiar ring of such words as frata and casa --local patois for brother and house. Elsewhere in Greece, adelphos and spiti are the terms you would hear.

The restored mansion of Metsovo’s Tositsa family, now a museum of 19th-Century Vlach furniture, rugs and tapestries, is a short uphill walk from the village square. It should not be missed. On the ground floor are the storerooms, fountains and even the stables common to mountain dwellings of 100 and 200 years ago, while on the two upper stories can be seen opulent examples of the weaving and costumes for which northern Greece is justly famous. Admission is $1.

A few blocks away, the Idryma Tositsa Folk Art Cooperative sells outstanding examples of regional jewelry, embroidery and woodcarving. A unique offering is women’s shoulder bags made from the embroidered sleeves of antique shepherds’ cloaks. Depending upon size, prices for these items range from about $10 to $50. Whether you buy or not, the folk art center is worth a visit, and admission is free.

Worth a special detour are two 15th- to 17th-Century monasteries a mile or so south and east of Metsovo; ask for directions at any of the village shops or hotels.

At the Monastery of the Panayia (Virgin Mary), a solitary nun, Sister Thekla, tends a tranquil garden and cluster of rough-hewn stone buildings on the banks of a mountain stream. The nearby Monastery of Ayios Nikolaos (St. Nicholas) contains, in a small stone chapel, stunning frescoes in gold leaf and crimson depicting bearded saints of the Greek Orthodox Church.

From Metsovo, we doubled back to Ioannina and veered north on the main road to Konitsa (Route 20), bringing us to the heart of the Pindus Range. This part of Epirus lies astride 1,000-year-old trade routes traveled by local villagers carrying olives and wool thread east as far as Istanbul and west to the port city of Igoumenitsa. This land has been fought over by Slavs, invaded by Turks, occupied by Hitler’s armies and, between 1946 and 1949, trampled by the Greeks themselves in a civil war of unparalleled brutality.

Scattered like pebbles across the rugged terrain is a network of 46 near-deserted villages known collectively as the Zagoria, and including only six that have inns or hotels: Aristi, Papingo, Vitsa, Monodendri, Tsepolovo and Scamneli.

The Zagoria can easily be visited in a series of day trips from Ioannina. But for the full flavor of these fascinating communities, consider driving from village to village, planning to stay in one of them for at least several nights.

Papingo, with its wealth of traditional tavernas and accommodations, makes a convenient base. After we had traveled about 23 miles north from Ioannina, we took a sign-posted turnoff. The road to the village was paved and plainly marked. It rose in corkscrew bends through a magnificent sweep of mountain landscape.

Papingo, we found, was the essence of the Zagoria. It evoked the mood of place and time that lies at the core of the Greek experience. Sturdy, commodious gray stone houses with gray slate roofs radiated outward along hillsides from an ancient gray church. A towering shade tree--a platanos , or sycamore--dominated the small central square, which is rimmed by a clutch of tavernas where travelers who pass this way can linger late into the night over a meal as elemental as Zagorian stone.

Staple dishes included tomatoes and onions laced with olive oil, a thin-crusted pastry toasted with the spicy local feta cheese, and a savory stew of macaroni and veal.

My wife and I drank ice-cold white wine that tasted faintly of pine sap. The coffee was thick and sweet. To cleanse the palate there was a clear, powerful grape brandy known throughout these mountains as a tsipouro.

An ample dinner for both of us rarely cost more than $10.

We stayed in Papingo in a refurbished one-room farm cottage that looked out on a stone threshing floor. It had a small kitchen and a foot-high platform furnished with a table, a chair and a pair of narrow beds. There was an adjoining bath. (We have since heard that this particular establishment no longer takes overnight visitors, but there are others in the area that do.)

In the mornings we could hear the musical clamor of goat bells and the voices of women calling to one another across the valleys.

Another of Papingo’s chief appeals is to walkers. Surrounding trails range from lowland footpaths to rock-strewn mule tracks that scale high ridges etched sharply against the pale northern sky.

A popular but demanding excursion leads down into the Vikos Gorge, a precipitous limestone canyon stretching eight miles to the village of Monodendri. My wife and I decided on less of an endurance test, a two-mile ramble east to Papingo’s sister village, Mikro.

From there it was only a short trek part way up the bare slopes that fall away from the 8,000-foot summit of Mt. Astrakas. The views were memorable.

Wherever we roamed, we encountered examples of what the Greeks call philoxenia . Loosely translated, this is an affection for and duty toward wayfarers.

Old men carrying shepherds’ crooks would wave a friendly greeting as we passed. Once, a woman in widow’s black clambered down from an orchard ladder to hand us each an apple.

Our last night in Papingo, the owner of a taverna brought to our table, unbidden, candied fruit served elegantly in cut-glass bowls on silver trays. In the mountains of the Zagoria this gesture is a ritual of welcome and hospitality.

We were leaving with regret.

GUIDEBOOK

Epirus, Greece

Getting there: Ioannina is a 45-minute flight or eight-hour bus or car ride from Athens. Olympic Airways schedules daily departures for about $104 round trip.

Getting around: A car is essential. The major rental chains are represented in Athens at the airport or downtown. In Ioannina, Budget is the sole outlet. A subcompact with unlimited mileage costs about $200 per week, plus 18% tax. Gas in Greece costs almost $4 a gallon.

Where to stay: Best bets include, in Ioannina, the Xenia Hotel (telephone 0651-25087; $52-$62 double with bath), and in Metsovo, the Victoria Hotel (0656-41761; $43). In Papingo, Nikos Saxonis, a transplanted Athens advertising executive who speaks flawless English, has converted two old houses into a gem of an inn with eight spacious rooms (0653-41615; $70). Rooms elsewhere in the village can be found in tavernas or in private houses. Expect to pay about $30 for a double. Room rates throughout Epirus include a continental breakfast.

Travel tip: Learn the Greek alphabet and a few basic phrases. Berlitz’s pocket-sized “Greek for Travelers,” available at larger bookstores in the United States, is a handy beginner’s guide.

For more information: Contact the Greek National Tourist Organization, 611 West 6th St., Los Angeles 90017, (213) 626-6696.