August 28 – To the Greek Mainland. Kassope, Nikopolis and Ano Pedina

Today we took the ferry from Corfu... 

to the mainland port of Igoumenitsa. 

We got to the port early enough to take an earlier ferry.  Fortunately, the tour operators checked to assure that we had gotten away ok, found out we had left early and contacted our driver so that he was there to meet us on our arrival. 

Our first stop was Kassope, the ruins of a Greek settlement founded around the 4^th century BC.  A fair amount of the site was excavated and...

they were working on excavations of the amphitheater while we were there.  The amphitheater seated 6000 spectators in its day.

The site overlooked the sea and we had great views.

From a distance we had good views of the Monument of Zalongo.  The monument commemorates the mass suicide of women and children in 1803.  The women first threw their children and then themselves, off of a high cliff rather than be captured by the Ottomans during the Souliote War.  The monument looks like people dancing…which is what the women reportedly did.  They danced themselves off of the cliff.

We then headed down to Nikopolis.  Before hitting all of the ruins we stopped for lunch along the Ambracian Gulf.  We were the only customers there.  The dining room was an open air pavilion with unobstructed views of the gulf and lovely breezes.  Just perfect.

Then it was off for some more ruins.  Nikopolis was founded by August Caesar to commemorate a naval victory in 31 BC.  The city was intended to establish Roman control over the area.  We saw the usual ruins outlining roads and buildings.

And we saw some beautiful mosaic floors that were well protected from the elements by small structures that had been built around them.

There was also an incredibly long wall that our driver said dated from the Byzantine era.

We then stopped briefly at the amphitheater but it was undergoing excavation and restoration so we couldn’t get very close.

Then we had a fairly long drove into the mountains...

to the village of Ano Pedina.  It is one of many stone villages in the area that is called Zagoraphoria. 

The hotel was extremely quaint, was constructed of stone and charmingly decorated.

After settling in we wandered down to the “main” part of town.  

There were windy stone streets,

pretty (and occasionally run down) gates,

stone buildings climbing the hillsides,

as one tavern and one monastery (Monastery of Evaggelistria)

 and great views.

We had dinner at the hotel.  We were the only ones who ate at the restaurant but there was one other table set so maybe there are other guests staying at the hotel.

We asked the staff of the hotel about the town.  They indicated that there are not longer many permanent residents.  Many of the homes are now vacation homes.  Apparently there are a number of these villages scattered throughout this area.  This would definitely be an area to come back to and explore.