August 4, 2023, going uphill at the north of Ioannina Lake, aproaching to the picturesque Zagori (=the place behind the mountains). At the foot and on the slopes of Pindos, all the 46 villages, the Zagorochoria, are built (facing each other). All around, ravines, rocks and slopes, similar in view of the impressive, not very high but steep mountains, when you reach Monodentri you see the Vikos gorge (20 km long) crossed by Voidomatis, but several hours of walking and I don’t follow it. Instead I choose to follow the next step and my vehicle is going uphill with many turns to Papigo villages (The Large and the Small at 1000m) looking the mountains around with altitude 1000m.

The people

In Zagorochoria, after you stop to admire the mountains, your attention is drawn to the uniform stone houses with slate roofs perfectly in harmony with the mountain landscape, ideal for poets of wild beauty and harmony. Fortunately the life of the locals there is calm, it does not create contradictions with the landscape for hikers, photographers and walkers who rest or follow the paths to higher peaks.

I climb higher first to Megalo Paigo (the more traditional) and then to Mikro Paigo (the more touristic), between the big garages with the tourist coaches, I look for a nice spot to internalize the beauty. It is 12 p.m and the sun at 1000 meters burns me vertically, I ask for some shade. Most of cafes are located in the courtyards of renting houses or small hotels and apart and there are not many unshaded places to sit. There are not so many trees there, but at least I find one nice cafe with arbor in yard.

The spirit of the place

I’m still coming back from the bends of the climb. Some spirit is there but it is shy or taciturn – it does not speak to me immediately, it needs its time. There is bad weather coming in the northwest, clouds appear from time to time, I estimate 2 hours until they get thicken for the storm to begin.

Somewhere where you feel tiny in the immensity of the mountains, the thought of local legends and phobic elements of death comes suspiciously. They do not concern the specific place, but the place here becomes an occasion for generalization. While you go up in altitude, in those very small societies that were constantly geographically threatened by threats, the harsh mountainous places are fertile for the cultivation of fear.

The rain is about to start. The passage was too hasty. Downhill I stop at Kalpaki in heavy rain and then back to Ioannina on the wet Lake of Ioannina to gaze the rainy water reflections.