Ioannina

Ioannina's Kastro, Nissi island and the oracle at Dodona

Ioannina's sights sit close together around the lake. Start inside the Kastro with Ali Pasha's tomb, the Byzantine Museum and the Ethnographic Museum in the Aslan Pasha Mosque, take the 20-minute boat to Nissi island after lunch, and save another morning for the ancient oracle at Dodona, south of the city.

Start inside the Kastro. See Ali Pasha's tomb beside the Fethiye Mosque, then the Byzantine Museum in the inner citadel where his palace once stood, and finally the Ethnographic Museum in the Aslan Pasha Mosque, which still has its mihrab. After lunch, take the 20-minute boat from the lakefront to Nissi, walk the stone lanes of the island village and visit the Pantelimonos Monastery, where Ali Pasha was killed in January 1822.

Next morning, drive 4 km to the Perama Cave for a guided walk through its chambers, then continue to Dodona and its ancient theatre, about 25 minutes from town. Back in the city, the Archaeological Museum on 25 Martiou Square puts the Dodona finds in context. Evenings belong to the student cafes along the lake, and a last walk round the outside of the walls after dark shows the Kastro lit above the water. If the weather turns, the Byzantine Museum and the Ethnographic Museum make a full rainy morning on their own.

Pies, lake food and mountain cheese in Ioannina

Epirus cooks for cold winters, and pies are the backbone of every Ioannina menu: hortopita with wild greens, kreatopita with meat and flat, cheesy alevropita. Bakeries sell them by the slice for breakfast, lakeside tavernas serve trout and frogs' legs, and mountain cheeses such as metsovone come from nearby Metsovo.

Order hortopita, wild greens folded into thin pastry, or kreatopita with meat, and if you see alevropita, a flat, cheesy flour pie, take it. Bakeries open early and sell pies by the slice, which makes a good breakfast before the Kastro.

The lake has its own dishes. On Nissi, the tavernas by the landing serve frog legs and eel from Lake Pamvotis, a local tradition that surprises most visitors, alongside trout. Up in the mountains, Metsovo makes metsovone, a smoked cheese worth carrying home. In the city, Stoa Louli on Anexartisias and Mystagogia on Koundouriotou are two long-standing places for a proper dinner. Bakeries also sell bougatsa, the custard or cheese pastry eaten warm in the morning. Finish dinner the way locals do, with a small glass of tsipouro, and expect plates to arrive generously: portions in Epirus are built for mountain appetites.

Stone villages of Zagori, the Vikos Gorge and Metsovo

North of Ioannina, the 46 Zagori villages sit high in the Pindus mountains, built of grey stone with slate roofs and joined by cobbled paths and arched packhorse bridges. Monodendri is the starting point for the Vikos Gorge, and a car is essential; Metsovo, east on the Egnatia, is famous for cheese and wine.

Monodendri is the usual starting point for the Vikos Gorge, and the three-arched bridge near Kipi is the one everyone photographs. A car is essential, because buses are few. Give it at least a full day, and ideally a night in a village guesthouse so you can walk in the morning cool.

East of the city, Metsovo is a mountain town of Vlach traditions on the road toward Meteora, which is about 2 hours away by bus if you are heading on. In winter, snow often closes the higher roads, while in July and August, when Ioannina reaches 31C, the villages are noticeably cooler. Albania is close too: the Kakavia crossing is roughly an hour's drive, and buses reach Gjirokaster in about 4 hours.