June 20 – Driving from Metsovo to Papingko
We woke up to a sunny cool morning sunrise in Kastraki. We enjoyed our one night stay at the Archontiki Mesohori (which means “middle of the village”). Apparently the village’s plateia used to be what is now our parking lot.
I did a little vacation rental work on the computer before we took off for another driving day. Out destination was the Pindos Mountains on the Northwest side of Greece near Albania. The area is also called Zagorahoria (the villages of Zagora) and Epirus. We had a peaceful driving day – took the new road rather than the long winding old road. The temps were in the 60’s and there was some great Greek music on the radio. There was even good cell signal on my Greek mobile so I could check bank balances while driving in the middle of nowhere. My how the world has changed in 20 years.
We stopped in the traditional village of Metsovo. It has changed so much since we were there with the kids in 2000. On that trip we arrived in the Western port city of Igoumenitsa on a ferry from Italy. We rented a car and drove from the West coast of Greece to Litohoron on the Northeast side. Metsovo was our overnight stop. It was a traditional village that hadn’t been taken over with tourism. Well that is changed. Everywhere you looked the shops had their garish tourist displays outside their shops. We didn’t see any tourists around – just local kids, old men in the park with their canes and lots of construction workers laying utilities under the cobblestone roads. Highlights of our Metsovo stop was a peek into their main church on the square, the sweetest cherries that we washed at a roadside natural fountain and 2 euro gyros.
We left Metsovo on the old road. Some of the old villages look like ghost towns. At one point we encountered a herd of goats and some scary guard dogs that would not let our car come near their goats.
Eventually we jumped onto the new road which is a toll road interstate. After much studying of the travel guides I’d brought along, we chose Papingko as our choice of a village to stay in the Zagora region. Primarily because Lea had mentioned that she and Mom visited this area and it made a great impression.
We wandered around the village looking for the perfect place to rent, ending up at Archontiki Geki 1876. We had the place to ourselves for first 2 nights. We chose a room on the second floor that had light from both the morning and the afternoon sun. Laying on our little couch, I had perfect view facing the mountain.
The four upstairs rooms all opened up to a lovely sitting room. The village is full of traditional houses, none with balconies and burglar bars on all the windows. All the houses have lovely courtyards inside stone walls. Things are very quiet in this village right now – apparently it gets fairly busy in the summer peak months but it’s very much a winter destination for the Greeks. This village seems to be in good shape – supported by money from villagers who have emigrated and sent back money. All of the buildings are traditional Pindos construction – grey slate roofs, light colored stone construction. The village has several churches, a handful of restaurants, only one open gift shop and no food shops at other than a pitiful mini-market inside someone’s house. Food is more expensive in Papingko. We had to drive for 30 minutes later in our stay to find an ATM and gas for the car.
Today we saw a lot of animals in our journeys – cows walking along the road, the aggressive dogs guarding their goats, horses and these donkeys who tried to join us for dinner. One of the things that you find on a trip to Greece is that the country has its own sounds and smells. In this village you hear the typical Greek sounds – roosters crowing, turkey’s gobbling, donkey braying, birds chirping, dogs barking and church bells ringing.
June 21 2017
It is nice to stay a few nights in one place. We are the only guests at this inn and the owner was very generous offering for us to take our breakfast leftovers with us. Which we did – a handy lunch it was on our hike.
There are many hiking trails between the villages of Zagora. We made the easy trek from Megalo Papinko (Big Papingko) to Mikro Papingko (Small). It was a mix of walking on the road and hiking on the calderimi path through the woods. The cobbled streets in Mikro Papingko are too narrow for motor cars. Along the way we stopped to cool our feet in Papingko Springs under this beautiful bridge. There wasn’t much to see in Little Papingko except this 92 year old women who was out watching her 6 goats.
We toured the main church of Mikro Papingko – Agios Taxiarches (Archangels). It had the traditional wrap around covered porch and was situated next to the typical Plane tree. The inside was decorated in modern painted frescoes. We talked with an iconographer who was up on scaffolding painting the ceiling. He told us he had been painting the inside of this church for 15 years. The church was built around 1808 and the wood iconostasis was carved in wood and decorated with older icons from early 1800’s.
After a quick rest back in our comfy room, we explored our village a bit more heading on the beginning of the hike to Ano Klidonia – an abandoned village. I’d say some parts of Megalo Papingko also look a bit deserted.
Tonight we tried dinner at another restaurant – Astra which has great Tripadvisor reviews and garden seating with views to the mountain. But as I learned, don’t always believe Tripadvisor. I think the owner knows how to work the system and its a vicious cycle. Get your friends to write reviews, tourists see them and come to eat, not knowing any better they write their own reviews. The lamb was mediocre, the moussaka was awful but the horta and grilled vegetables were excellent. And you can’t beat the view.
