Explore The central mainland
Continuing west from Metéora, you soon encounter the rugged peaks, forested ravines and turbulent rivers of the Píndhos Mountains. Over the centuries, this range has insulated the communities and culture here from outside interference, securing a large measure of autonomy even under Ottoman rule. Yet, today it’s the mountains themselves that provide the strongest attraction. Their physical beauty is stunning, with limestone peaks, dramatic gorges and dense forest contrasting with stone-built villages and arched packhorse bridges.
Roughly halfway over the mountains stands Métsovo, the most convenient venue for alpine life Greek-style, plus a taste of the local Vlach culture. Down on the plain below is the fascinating lakeside city of Ioánnina, capital of Epirus, the last region of Greece to be liberated from the Turks. Farther to the north, back up in the Píndhos mountains, authentic stone hamlets and the stunning Víkos Gorge provide unforgettable scenery and hiking opportunities.
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Take the high road: the Katára Pass
Take the high road: the Katára Pass
West of Kalambáka, the 1694-m Katára Pass carries the only high-altitude paved road across the central Píndhos Mountains to link the regions of Thessaly and Epirus, which lie on either side. One of the most spectacular drives in the country, this centuries-old route switchbacks through folds in the enormous peaks rising more than 2300m around Métsovo. From November to April the pass is snowploughed – although these days the old, twisty road is entirely optional. Sixty enormous tunnels linked by long viaducts have been bored through the ridges here as part of the recently completed Vía Egnatía expressway, which now smoothly flows all the way to the west coast.
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The Vlachs
The Vlachs
Europe’s last semi-nomadic peoples the Vlachs have lived in the Píndhos Mountains for centuries. Each summer, the melting of the winter snows finds the vast slopes here coming alive with the sound of bells, as the Vlachs bring their flocks up from the plains to graze in the mountains. Though the ethnicity of the Vlachs (from the ancient Germanic word for “foreigner” Walh) is a subject of much scholarly debate, most claim to be descendants of Roman soldiers stationed here in Classical times, and they speak a Latin-derived, unwritten language similar to modern Romanian. Today, although the Greek government keeps no records of ethnicity, it is estimated that perhaps 40,000 Vlachs live in small communities scattered throughout the Píndhos range, where you can still see shepherds wearing the distinctive goat-skin cape and wielding their fanciful crook. In the remotest areas, traditional Vlach pagan beliefs are only thinly overlaid with the Orthodox faith; many elderly women still have a black cross tattooed on their foreheads, to ward off the evil eye, and their gossip is rife with folktales of sorcery and curses.
