It is Tuesday morning mid-January. It is warm and sunny. The temperature is good and the sun is shining. After a short walk around the castle town, we go out on the pier and wait for the boat, which leave every 30 minutes and the ride takes about fifteen minutes.
Towards the island
As we set sail, view of the castle captivates us. We take a few photos of the castle, the Aslan Pasha mosque and the lake itself. The calm waters of Lake Pamvotida and the bright sunshine set the ideal backdrop. Seagulls, ducks, pygmy cormorants and western marsh harriers are just a few of the many different water birds we see on our way towards the island. A boat comes from the opposite direction while the rowers continue their training.
The Olympic champion of Tokyo, rower Stefanos Douskos, who filled us with pride last summer by winning the highest athletic distinction, the gold medal at the Olympic Games, trains in this very lake. A family from Ioannina with two young children, Ifigenia and Tommy, go on a trip to the island. I can see the eagerness of the little ones to get to the island. “We want to go to the forest where there are rabbits,” Tommy tells me, while older Ifigenia enjoys the boat ride.
In the island’s monastic state
In the last few meters, we sail along the bank and among the reeds we see boats, some abandoned and some not, small houses and scattered monasteries on the green hill. A little later, we arrive. Descending, we find ourselves right in the middle of the gift and souvenir shops.
We ascend the paved alley towards the first square and start hiking passing by the Byzantine and post-Byzantine monasteries of the island, the Monastery of Agios Nikolaos Philanthropinos, then the monasteries of Agios Nikolaos Ntilios, Eleousa, Metamorphosis, Prophet Elias in the centre of the island, Assumption of the Virgin Mary and Panteleimon. Of particular interest are the frescoes in the Monastery of Agios Nikolaos Philanthropinos, which depict the seven philosophers of antiquity, Aristotle, Plato, Solon, Chilon, Plutarch, Thucydides and Apollonius. The island of Ioannina is the third largest monastic state in Greece, after Mount Athos and Meteora. A full tour of the island covers almost 2.5 kilometres and is well worth planning as you will have the opportunity to see its beauty in all its glory.
Museum Ali Pasha
After the tour of the island, we visited the museum of Ali Pasha which is located in a cell of the Panteleimon Monastery. Here, in 1822, Ali Pasha was assassinated and visitors can see exactly where the bullets passed through the slits in the floor before striking him dead. Also on display are historical documents, weapons of the time, manuscripts, as well as the original uniform of Queen Vassiliki and other personal items of Ali Pasha.
Between evolution and tradition
We go down to the pier again and wait for the next boat that will take us back to the pier of Ioannina. We leave behind us a place that struggles to keep alive, trying to balance between development and the preservation of its traditional character. Sometimes it succeeds, sometimes it doesn’t. What is certain is that it is a place of unique natural beauty. The next day we see it again as we head uphill to Ligiades, the tormented village on the mountainside above the islet and opposite the town. One can never get enough of the view.
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