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Ioannina

The city of Ioannina is the capital of the district of Ioannina, the administrative capital Epirus, the seat of an archbishop, and an army headquarters. It occupies a rocky promontory jutting into lake Pambotis opposite the foot of the precipitous Mt Mitsikeli. The busy and friendly town lies at 475m in the midst of a plain divided between pasture and the cultivation of cereals and tobacco. Local industries include the manufacture of filigree silver jewellery. To the East and South-East of the town, rise the highest peaks of the Pindus. In summer the temperature is oppressive, while the winters are long and cold. The airport of Ioannina connects the city with Athens and Thessaloniki.

Ioannina was long famous for its Schools, founded by Michael Philanthropinos (1682-1758), Leondati Giouma (1675-1725), and Meletios(1690), later Bp of Athens and a noted historian and geographer. They were all destroyed in the fire of 1820. The social life of Ioannina centers on Odhos Yeoryiou tou Protou which connects Pirrou Square, a beautiful belvedere laid out in front of the Municipal Offices (View of Mitsikeli), and the Central Square with its clock tower farther down the hill. Commanding the central square is the Army HQ, in front of which the Flags are ceremonially lowered each evening. Behind, the museum and gardens occupy the leveled upper esplanade of the Castle, which once sheltered the Christian quarter of Litharitsa. Its walls were demolished by Ali Pasha and the material was used to build his palace and outer fortifications of the town. The North part of the castle has been restored as a cafe-restaurant.

The Museum, opened 1970, has five halls, of which the first is the most important. There you can see stone tools from Cambridge Univ. excavations in Paleolithic caves at Asprokhaliko and Kastritsa, Neolithic and Bronze Age findings, Protogeometric vases from the region of Agrinion, findings from the cemeteries of Vitsa, ranging from 9C. Geometric to late-Classical, vases and terracotta collectibles of Persephone from the Nekyomanteion of Ephyra, and other findings of high historical value.

The excursion to Dodona should on no account be missed. Road, 22km (13,5 miles), infrequent bus. One takes the road to Arta, passing the Xenia Hotel and an artillery barracks, and through the tobacco fields with distant views to the left, of the Pindus. At 8km we turn right and wind over a ridge (fine retrospective views of the lake and the Pindos) into the enclosed valley of Tsarkovitsa at the foot of Mt Tomaros, the long ridge of which rises from the North end (1332m) to two peaks at the South (Mt Olitsikas; 1974m).

The Lake of Ioannina, or Limni Pambotis, is fed by torrents from the precipices of Mitsikeli and discharges its waters into swallow-holes. It is 10 -11 km long, averages 3 km across, and ranges in depth from 9-20m, with shallow reedy shores. In Lake Kastoria, boats pile on the island in the lake, on which are numerous monasteries very prettily situated amid trees and flowers. One should first visit the Monastery of the Prodhromos (St. John the Baptist) to the East of the little island village. Its most ancient parts (13th.C.) are the katholikon and the aisle. It was restored in the 16C. In the 16th.C. near the Monastery of Pantaleimon, Ali Pasha was killed on 17 January 1822, and the bullet marks on the floor that witnessed his assassination, still stand today.

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