Easter in Zagori

During the Holy Week, the land beyond welcomed fifteen people in an activity with a walking, educating and celebrating character.

The participants arrived in Vitsa on the Holy Thursday. They met each other and we had the welcome dinner at Kannela and Garyfallo. This restaurant specializes in mushroom, with its menu including almost exclusively plates made out of mushrooms, from soups and salads to pies and other culinary suggestions.

On the Holy Friday we visited many villages of Zagori, beginning from the well-known bridge of Kokkoros. We watched the liturgy of cleansing in the St George monastery in Tsepelovo and we ate fasting foods at the Vikogiatros tavern in Koukouli. In the afternoon we visited the monastery of St John Prodromos Rogkovou, where we had the chance to be guided around by Panagiota Koutsoukou, maintainer of monuments, who has worked for the restoration of hagiographies in the monastery. We admired an exclusive for Zagori style of Palaeologian hagiography, similar to the renaissance one. We then visited Mpeloe, where one can enjoy a spectacular view of the Vikos Gorge. In the evening we attended the liturgy of the epitaph in Vitsa, and then we dined in the neighboring village of Monodendri.

In the morning of Saturday, the speech of Mr Harry Papasotiriou took place. Mr Papasotiriou is a professor in the Panteio University and also President of the Institute of International Relations. The speech was about the reasons why the Eastern Roman Empire survived for a thousand years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The speech gave us a full view of the numerous and complex reasons that made it possible for the eastern empire to survive, from the abilities of the emperors in internal and external politics to the behavior of the tribes that were threatening the empire at its boarders. The people who attended the speech were very participative, and the discussion that followed was very interesting. After the speech we went to the Information Centre of the National Forest of Northern Pindos. Later, we drove all the way to the bridge of Aristi and from there we hiked for an hour along the river Voidomatis. In the evening we attended the liturgy of Ressurection in Vitsa and after that we had the traditional dinner in the hotel/restaurant En Hora Vezitsa, where we tasted delicious lamb and Mageiritsa, a traditional delicacy that is supposed to ‘end’ the 40 day fast.

In the village of Aspraggeloi we celebrated the Sunday of Easter with a rich lunch at the restaurant Montaza. In the evening we walked down to the Missios bridge, which is located below Vitsa. In the old times, the only way people of different villages in Zagori could communicate was through these paths and bridges, so it is very interesting to visit these places and feel what the people back then felt. In the evening we dined at Ano Pedina.