HOME DESTINATIONS
HOME DESTINATIONS |
| |
 Don't miss:
Festivals 21 February Celebration for the liberation of the city Begining of July Wine festival in Zitsa 9-13 July Panhellenic commercial exibition Epirotica 26 July-10 August Theatrical performances, concerts, etc. August-September Rowing races at the lake 1st week of september Bazaar September Convention of History, Folcklore or Philosophy in cooperation with the University of Ioannina ......................... The boats for the island depart every hour from 6:30 to 22:00. The trip is 10'. The Vrellis wax museum is open every day until 16:00. The ticket costs around 3 euros for adults and 1,50 euros for students and children. Tel: 26510-55055 The Perama cave is open every day until 20:00. The ticket costs around 4,50 euros for adults and 2 euros for students and children. Tel: 26510-81521 "GIanniotiko Saloni" cafe-restaurant is located in the Pirsinella park at the 3rd Km of Ioannina - Athens national highway. The price pp with wine is around 10 and 11,50 euros. ......................... Ski: Pindos mountain Location Karakoli Tel:26560-41211 Camping: Limnopoula tel:26510-25265 ......................... How to get there:
......................... Useful telephones: Airport 26510-26218 KTEL Ioannina to Agrinio - Patras, Preveza and Arta 26510-25014 to Athens 26510-26286 to Igoumenitsa 26510-26211 to Thessaloniki 26510-27442 local busses 26510-22239 Police 26510-26226 26510-35913 26510-26280 Tourist police 26510-25673 Hospital "Hatzikosta" 26510-33461 26510-80111 University Hospital 26510-99111 OTE 26510-41699 26510-27099 ELTA 26510-26500 26510-25498 ELPA 26510-49695 26510-49643 Taxi 26510-21044 26510-26235 26510-28444 26510-38400 Radio Taxi 26510-46777 26510-46778 26510-46779 EOT 26510-25086 26510-31456 26510-46662 26510-41142 Vrellis museum 26510-55055 25510-22414 Folk art museum 26510-20515 Municipal museum 26510-26356 Perama cave 26510-81521 Dodoni theatre 26510-82287 Archaeological museum 26510-33357 Byzantine museum 26510-39580 Municipal museum 26510-26356 Frontzos folklore museum 26510-23566 Museum of national resistance 26510-37644 Art gallery of EHM 26510-25233 Municipal art gallery 26510-75131 Zosimaia public library 26510-25591 Library of EHM 26510-24190 Digital library 26510-38656 YWCA Childrens' library 26510-44608 Pre-revolution era museum 26510-81791 ......................... Average temperature (C - F) Jan 04.7 40.4 Feb 06.2 43.2 Mar 08.9 48.0 Apr 12.6 54.7 May 17.4 63.4 Jun 21.7 71.1 Jul 24.8 76.6 Aug 34.4 76.0 Sep 20.2 68.3 Oct 14.9 58.8 Nov 09.8 49.6 Dec 06.6 42.8 ........................ EOT = National Tourist Organisation (GNTO) ELTA = Post office ELPA = Road assistance KTEL = Bus system EHM = Society for Epirotic Studies ......................... See also: http://ioannina. uoi.gr/index2.html http://www.arafura. net.au/greeksnt/ ioannina.html |
|
Ioannina (or Giannena or Yiannena or Jannena) [Iωαvvιvα or
Γιαvvεvα] is the prettiest and the largest city in 
Ioannina used to be a cultural and commercial centre during the tourkokratia, the period
during which Epirus was under the occupation of the Ottomans. It was famous for its fur and
silver artisans and today one of the most representative epirotic souvenirs is a decorative
silver plate bought from the street of the silvery shops near "molos", the mole next to the lake.
The city boasts some of the earliest schools and universities in east Europe and most of the
Greek benefactors that founded schools, libraries, universities etc. and helped actively for the
liberation of the country and its intellectual enhancement come from Ioannina and the broader
area of Epirus. The rich merchants from Epirus used to be so successful as to expand their
operations abroad with the basis of their operations in Venice, Liborn, Vienna and other big
cities of central Europe and Russia. The peak of this flourishing era was during the government of
The heart of the city and the major meeting point for the people of Ioannina is the main square
next to the municipal clock. You can hear the locals arranging a meeting by saying simply "sto
roloi" which means "at the clock". A few metres away from the "Roloi" there are lots of modern
cafes which attract mostly young people and students of the university and many traditional
zacharoplasteia, pastry shops that attract slightly older customers. Some of them are
rather old and renowned such as the "Vretannia" and "Diethnes" which are often preferred by the
locals as the most traditional. Keep in mind that in Greece most of the pastry shops serve coffee
and ice-cream as well and they usually have tables outside for the customers. Around there one
can find some of the best tiropita and bougatsa of Ioannina as well that is,
cheesepie and creampie. Remember that some of the best delicacies are served in places which
don't have tables to sit and they look very modest and small from the outside.
At a short walking distance there is molos, the dock. Molos is one of the meeting points of the
city, especially during summer when all the cafes and restaurants of the area are open. There one
can enjoy a coffee, a juice or even some ouzo with meze and play backgammon, a game the Greeks
seem to play passionately, or eat some of the local specialities next to the lake. Near molos one
can find some of the most "funky" cafe-clubs of the city such as the "Stathmos". On the right of
molos there is the castle and one of the most romantic areas of the city. The road around the
castle next to the lake covered with the foliage of the ever-present in Epirus plane-trees. This
is probably my favourite spot in the city!
On the north side of the Kastro (or as it is referred sometimes with its Turkish name, the Its
kale) there is the Aslan Tzami, a Turkish mosque that many believe it was build on top of the
Christian church of St. John the Baptist. It is visible from everywhere in the city and it is
probable the most recognisable landmark of Ioannina. A little bit further the second mosque of
the city, the Fetihe Tzami, and next to it the small Byzantine Museum in which some of the most
exquisite jewellery made by the famous local artists is exhibited. A few metres away there is the
rest of the old castle, an area that easily excites the imagination of the visitor as it has
changed only slightly since the 17th century. There one can feel extremely vividly something
that is present all over the city but inside the old part of the castle is even more evident, the
dramatic mix of romanticism and sadness as the past of the place was marked by glorious times and
times of oppression and extreme cruelty. The elders are always keen to narrate tragic stories from
the tourkokratia with most known being the stories of 
From Molos one can take one of the little boats that cross the lake and visit the islet that the
locals simply call Nisi, the Island. During summer they depart very frequently, sometimes so
frequently as every 10 minutes. These little boats are practically the only connection of the
island with the city of Ioannina and during winder, when most of the external tourism dies down,
operate solely for this purpose. The boats arrive in a small open area filled with restaurants
with large aquariums filled with fish, shrimps, crabs and other sea food. The customer can choose
his fish of preference which is fished out of the tank with a net before it end up to the kitchen
and eventually to his plate. Some of the most famous delicacies of the island are, trout,
frog legs, crayfishes and eels. The island is really small, only 675 sq. km. It consists
practically from a major stone covered street that runs through the island from which smaller
paths begin which very often end up in a dead end in somebodys frond yard. 
Across the main road
there are numerous silvery shops with local products very often of great artistic value. The road
leads to the summer house of 
Right above the lake looms the mountain Mitsikeli. With its peak snow-covered throughout the year
is not only a landmark, source of inspiration for many folk songs and legends, but also an
important part of everyday life of the locals and not only because it attracts so many climbers
and skiers. I still remember my grandmother looking at its direction every time she wanted to
predict the weather. Unfortunately this ability died with her. On the side of Mitsikeli Mt.
lies the village of Liggiades, one of the beautiful group of mountain villages called 
5' away from Ioannina there is a small village called Perama. Perama is a very popular
destination for both the locals and the tourists for two reasons. First it is the place that most
of the clubs go during summer. In many cities of Greece this practise is very common. Big clubs
operate downtown during winter and they move next to the sea or in this case the lake during
summer. The second reason is because of the famous cave of Perama. It was explored by the
renowned couple of spileologists Petrocheilos and it is one of the most interesting caves. There
are guided walks that last around 45' where one can see all those stalagmitic and
stalactitic formations that remind ordinary objects such as the Sphinx of Aegypt or the statue of
Liberty in New York. The tour ends in a small cafe with a view to the city of Ioannina.
In exactly the opposite direction and a few kilometres away of the city there is the Vrellis wax
museum where one can see representations of the local history in a chillingly realistic way. Keep in mind that small children might find some of the exhibits scary! The
problem is that since I visited the museum last time (which was quite a few years ago) it has
been divided into two sections. One is located there, a few kilometres away from the city in Mouzakei and the
other next to the Kastro. I am not sure why this has happened and what is the difference if any
between them.
The theatre of Dodoni is in a very
good condition and very often every July and August there are performances there of ancient
dramas and comedies during August. I cannot remember how many times I have watched Medea performed there. Unfortunately it seems that for the next few years the
theatre will be closed for performances since it needs to be restored. The area of Dodoni was a
sacred religious place since 3.000 BC dedicated to the Goddess Gaia (Earth). Later on, the Greek
phylae who immigrate there brought with them the religion of the sacred oak-tree which mixed with
the religion of Gaia-Nature. In the 13th century BC the patriarchal religion of the pelasgic Zeus
appeared and in combination with the already existing religion formed the religion of Zeus whose
wife under the name Dioni was the goddess Gaia and they both lived in the sacred oak-tree. The
religion was an earthly one and originally the priests used to receive divine messages from the
vibrations of the ground to their naked feet. 
Later they developed a method to read the whisper
of the leaves and the flying of the pigeons. Finally someone offered as a gift a metal statue of
a boy holding a chain over a metal pot. With the wind the chain would hit the pot producing a
sound through which the priests could interpret the will of the God. The oracle and the theatre
were destroyed by the Romans. The theatre was restored by the emperor Augustus and was turned
into an arena.
63 km from Ioannina there is the small provincial city of Konitsa built next to the Aoos river. From the church of Agia Varvara (Santa Barbara) one can see a beautiful view to the 
