Zagoria region lies north of Ioannina, it is an area of outstanding beauty, with wonderful villages, deep gorges and high hills and mountains. The area is popular with tourists but there are still plenty of places where you can get away from it all. The Epirot villages all have large stone mansions from the 18-19th C when it was a wealthy district. The owners of these properties commissioned a series of packhorse bridges to link villages and trade routes. Many of these bridges are still standing but to visit them we decided to park up the van at a free camp just outside Kipoi and investigate the area by scooter.
On the way back to Kipoi we pass two bridges firstly Persioni and then Milos with its mill.
We park up at Kipoi and walk up through the village to the church at the top.
We then visit some more bridges, Lazaridi, (most of the bridges are named after the person who commissioned them.)
Plakida, with its three arches,
and then we followed the river down to Kokons bridge set against an imposing rock formation.
We are definitely "bridged out", so we head higher into the mountains for a scenic tour to the mountain village of Tseppelovo.
Our final destination for the day is a walk to the Mpeloi viewpoint which overlooks the incredible Vikos Gorge. On the way to the village of Vradeto we could see a 15thC packhorse track which scaled the rocky gorge sides.
The Vikos Gorge is stunning, you need a good head for heights at this view point. There is a trail which takes you along the bottom of the gorge a 14km rough walk which we would love to do but the forecast of thunderstorms for the next week means we have a good excuse to come back to this delightful area next year.
Straight down!
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