Destination: Greece : Written in Stone : Greece’s Zagoria region, with its yawning rock expanses and dense forests, is one of the wildest parts of Europe

Everyone has heard the glories of ancient Greece: mighty Sparta, cultured Athens, the oracle at Delphi. But forget about those revered ruins where democracy was born and Western civilization took its first faltering steps.

This is about Zagoria, the other ancient Greece, a vast realm of unforgiving stone where remote valleys sheltered in the folds of the Pindus Mountains hide dozens of tiny villages. The 46 villages, collectively called Zagorohoria, lie hidden behind the protective arm of Mitsikeli mountain. Each is a marvel of the mason’s art--every millimeter of every village is gray slate stone, from the footpaths to the handsome houses to the soaring arched bridges. Here it is always the stone age.

The 20th Century has barely intruded in this patch of northwestern Greece. The region’s yawning rock expanses and dense forests remain one of the wildest parts of Europe, where eagles fly, bears prowl and the howls of wolves still rend silent nights. Semi-nomadic tribal shepherds, the Sarakatsans, still lead their flocks of sheep through the Vikos Gorge, the so-called Grand Canyon of Greece.

On rocky parapets above the 16-mile-long abyss, monks once meditated in stony monasteries. Far below their places of prayer, down in the chasm where the Voidhomatis River runs cold and blue as the sky, desperate, ragged Albanian refugees steal their way into Western Europe.

Few come to Zagoria (pronounced zag-a-REE-a) for the village life. Some of the little towns are deserted and crumbled. Most of the others support vestigial populations. Dilofo, for example, is said to be inhabited in winter by three lone widows. The most populous town, Tsepelovo, supports a population of about 500; but there you are never far from the smell of sawdust, the buzz of saws and the roar of trucks--the local loggers are busily denuding their landscape. And here the fallen buildings so common in Zagoria have a sense of decrepitude rather than ruin.

A few villages are experiencing a sort of renaissance. Much of the region has recently been set aside as the Vikos-Aoos National Park, and some young people and a few Athenian exurbanites have restored characteristically beautiful stone houses and now operate them as bed-and-breakfast accommodations.

A stay in villages such as the Papingos or Monodendri offers tranquil respite and the chance to see a way of life remarkable for its harmony with the surrounding world. Besides, where else can you wake to see herds of sheep or cattle being driven through narrow, stony streets roofed with trellis-trained grapevines?

For most, the trip begins in nearby Ioannina, the euphonically named lakeside city once ruled by Ali Pasha, a renegade Albanian despot who decorated his citadel with the severed heads and torn-off limbs of his enemies. Eventually, he double-crossed the Turks one too many times. When they took the city in 1822, Pasha’s own head went on display.

Today Ioannina is a bustling crossroads of commerce, but the old section of town, huddled around the citadel and its exotic-looking minaret, recalls the days when this part of Greece was ruled by Turkey.

The lure of the Orient reached past Ioannina to tug even at the secret valleys of Zagoria. Those villages lie not far south of the old caravan route that linked Rome with Istanbul and the Far East. In addition, shepherds’ paths and traders’ trails veined nearby mountains.

Perhaps because of the promise that seemed to lie at the far ends of those trails, Zagori men succumbed to the siren song of the road. They traveled throughout Europe and the Mideast, working as doctors, lawyers, merchants and teachers.

But they always returned to their villages in the Pindus Mountains. Their earnings enabled them to employ itinerant masons who could shape houses from the abundant stone that lies everywhere in striated heaps, like stacks of ready-to-use bricks.

As a result of the men’s worldly experiences, these remote and isolated villages became quite cosmopolitan. Turn-of-the-century photos display the locals dressed in clothes you’d see on city dwellers. At one point in the past, there was an effort to establish a great university in these mountains.

But today the villages are quiet, the dwindling populace having returned to agriculture and animal husbandry. This is about as far from souvenir joints and souvlakia stands as you can get.

In Mikro Papingo and Megalo Papingo, the 1,000-year-old villages that anchor the western end of Zagorohoria, the year-round population hovers at well under 100. Sheep are more commonly seen on the streets than people.

A handful of hostelries offer accommodation--the villages are particularly popular with Athenians and other Greek vacationers.

The Papingos--Mikro and Megalo (little and big)--are probably the most dramatic destination in Zagoria. Towering above them is Gamila peak, tallest in the area and the fourth highest mountain in Greece. Its snowy pinnacles rise from a lofty plateau, a vast sea of limestone riddled with hidden lakes and deep caves. Adventurers can take the seven-hour trip through the gorge, climb up to Drakolimni, the Dragon Lake, or plunge into the inky depths of Provatina cave.

But first, all eyes rise to fasten on the Pyrgi, the Towers, a quartet of massive limestone monoliths tearing at the sky like the claws of some antediluvian beast.

Far below those towers, tiny Megalo Papingo echoes the other villages of the region. There is the stone square, dominated by a massive plane tree with branches pinwheeling off toward the stratosphere, the stone church and huddled houses. Everything is gray, relieved only by the dusky green of the vegetation, the blue of the sky and the white glare of mountaintop snows.

Some outlandish ideas threaten the peace and tranquillity of Zagoria: plans to bulldoze a highway across the plateau, schemes to string electric lighting throughout the gorge, a ski resort for the area. The national park designation may curb such developmental urges.

For now, though, the gorge is pristine. From Mikro Papingo you can plumb its depths by following a rocky path that skirts clusters of conical hoodoos on its way down into the Vikos.

A more direct route to the bottom, one that begins with a spectacular panorama, begins in the tiny village of Vikos, separated from the Papingos by a narrow road with more curves than a bowl of linguine.

Another good spot for gorge gazing or exploring is Monodendri. Not much happens in this little village, which is unaccountably popular with foreign tourists. That may be a good thing because barren Monodendri doesn’t offer much more than sightseeing.

“Here there is not much work--too many stones,” one local grumbled.

The most spectacular confluence of stones can be seen at Oxia, a lookout near town. There, the Megas Lakkos, the Big Ditch, drops into the gorge at midpoint. The spectacular geologic intersection can be seen from stone catwalks on the highest cliffs of the gorge.

Back on solid ground, there are dozens of great stopping spots in Zagorohoria.

Nearly every village is worth exploring. Take, for instance, the monumental staircase of-- what else? --stone coiling up out of the gorge on its way from Kapesovo to the lofty village of Vradeto. Or the sinuous stone bridges around Kipi, especially the three-arched wonder just below the hillside town. Or the Rongovou Monastery in Tsepelovo. The stone age has never looked better.

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GUIDEBOOK

Going to Greece

Getting there: From LAX fly to Athens via Delta, with a connection in Frankfurt, or on TWA, with a connection in New York, or on SwissAir, with a connection in Zurich. Round-trip, advance-purchase fares start at $918. Or fly American, United, Lufthansa, KLM, British Air, Virgin Atlantic, Air France and transfer to Olympic Airways at various European cities. Round-trip fares start at $918.

From Athens, the next stop en route is Ioannina, which can be reached via a flight from Athens or by bus or rental car. By car, the trip takes about seven hours. The Zagoria area is less than an hour’s drive from Ioannina.

Getting around: A rental car is the best way to explore Zagoria. (Cars can be rented at the airport in Ioannina.) Bus service is infrequent, and there are few convenient links between many of the villages. Hikers exploring Vikos Gorge will have to rely in part on the bus. The best hiking route is between Monodendri and Mikro Papingo or Vikos. The walk takes about seven hours.

For guided tours of the area, inquire at Robinson Expeditions/Outdoor Activities at 10, 8th Merarchias St. in Ioannina. Owner Konstantinos Vassiliou speaks excellent English and has participated in climbing expeditions all over the world.

Where to stay: One of the best lodgings in Zagoria is Ta Spitia Too Saxoni in Megalo Papingo. (Write to the hotel, Megalo Papingo, Epirus, Greece.) Some guidebooks proclaim the beautifully restored stone building run by a former advertising executive from Athens to be one of the best small hotels in all of Greece. Rates start at about $60 a day, including breakfast. Numerous modest hotels and bed-and-breakfasts, housed in traditional stone buildings, offer accommodation with prices starting at about $20.

For more information: Greek National Tourist Organization, 611 W. 6th St., Suite 2198, Los Angeles 90017, (213) 626-6696.

Greek National Tourist Organization, known in Greece simply as EOT, has an office in Ioannina on a small square near the intersection of 28 Oktovriou and Dodonis.