Greece’s vast north is unmatched for geographical, cultural and even culinary diversity.

 

Here, great stretches of mountains, lakes, forest and coastline remain to be discovered.

 

With terrain stretching from the azure Ionian Sea across the rugged Epiros mountains to the Thracian plain and the Turkish border, the north offers something for everyone, from culture and urban sophistication to swimming, hiking and birdwatching.

 

Today, with the grand Egnatia Odos Hwy spanning the region completed, northern Greece is getting easier – and quicker – to navigate. It’s also becoming a pretty happening place. Thessaloniki, Greece’s second city, offers outstanding eateries, nightlife and culture, while the university town of Ioannina is a lively spot close to the magnificent Pindos Mountains and kastoria, a great place to relax and live in the nature. Even fairly provincial Thracian cities such as Xanthi, Komotini and Alexandroupoli offer a piece of the action. Northern Greece also boasts great beaches, both for those looking for summer nightlife and for others in search of more secluded spots.

  However, the most spectacular sights are surely those of Western Macedonia and Epiros regions,  places that will take your breath away. The lofty Vitsi, Gramos and Pindos mountain range, which comprises most of it, has for thousands of years been safeguarding civilisations and confounding invaders. The mountain of Vitsi and Gramos  are standing above the lakes of kastoria and Prespes, filled with leafy forests and stone villages abandoned since the World War 2.  Bisecting the Pindos is the stunning 12km-long Vikos Gorge (one of the world’s deepest), now a national park  filled with waterfalls and ice-cold mountain lakes, and surrounded by immaculate traditional stone-and-slate villages of the Zagorohoria.

West Macedonia and Epirus, the most mountainous regions in Greece, are  blessed with a lush and soaring landscape reminiscent of Scotland at its finest, mountain villages to rival the best of Provence, and that gloriously unspoilt Olympus mountain coral beaches and Ionian Sea coastline. Add to this a densely forested landscape, home to brown bears, wolves and jackals, lonely clifftop monasteries, soul-stirring mountain vistas, low-key seaside resorts and skies patrolled by birds including golden eagles, and it’s easy to see why the Greeks have been keeping this Northern part of Greece, a secret from the world for so long.

 

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As Greece imposed a lockdown early in its coronavirus outbreak, the move credited with limiting infections. The country had a total of 175 deaths and 2,915 confirmed cases as of this moment. No cases have been detected on the vast majority of the Greek islands, which are popular vacation spots and also none at the Northern parts of the mainland..

Greece has always prided itself on its sunny weather, beaches, islands and the impeccable beauty of the northern landscapes. Now Greeks are pride that have had this self-discipline, unity and solidarity against Covid-19 and the country is moving to a gradual easing of the previous restrictions.

They saw restrictions in place even before the virus reached the country and since then, the government has worked closely with the public and private sector, ensuring protocols and standards are in place that will not only see the country through to a fast recovery, it could be one of the first countries in Europe, if not the first, to welcome tourists back to its lands.

To get away from it all, to find a stretch of paradise untouched by another,, in the touristical places in Greece, is almost impossible. Most stones have been turned, and paths trodden. The next best thing, therefore, must be to escape to a remote destination where there might still exist the slim possibility of some peace and quiet and solitude.

I’m not looking for a wi-fi free zone or some far-flung corner of the globe without network coverage. I’m not trying to escape from my iPad, email, games or online shopping… No, I just want to escape other people. And there are plenty of gorgeous places at the North, where escape is not just a word, having the summer evening buzzing of the nearby coasts, an hour drive away.

 

 

 

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During the Holidays the city of kastoria is at its best. Perhaps is the only city in Greece where Christmas colors are so much suited to its urban environment…. Snowy slopes, the snowy roofs of its mansions, the gray color of the ice in the sky and to the lake, the Christmas lights in the trees surrounding the lake, all together combined with the green color of the forests around, bring to your eyes the absolute combination of Christmas.

Glowing, white and green. Traditions and feasts, like everywhere in Greek, here though a little more fraudulent than 15 years ago. The great Christmas traditions, the carols on the streets, the Ragousaria Carnival, the street music bands that begin playing strolling around the neighborhoods right after the New Year’s Day. And above all the festive local gastronomy. The city’s economic prosperity is present in the contemporary macedonian cuisine of the city. Plates with dolmades, an honorary Christmas dish, cabbage in the brine, with its stuffed leaves, serviced with granulated pepper and egg-lemon sauce or red pepper, make Kastoria a unique place to be at Christmas.

Getting to know the festive Kastoria is a revelation, but with its lake, it’s a magic…. perhaps the only such “Christmas” town in Greece.

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Being really demanding, claiming the best in my kitchen, not accepting defeats … and living luxuriously, I can easily and instantly discern the positive side of ingredients. In this case, because of the autumn season…. the mushrooms, which thrive in the mountains around Kastoria during the fall.

Many of those mushrooms that lie ahead of us in our afternoon strolls are the only ones found in Greece, many others are rarely seen in Europe and some are listed as endangered species. Fried, in soups or in pies, local traditional dishes with mushrooms feature on the local daily table and revive local restaurant lists. In Women household hands, they are transformed into pickled mushrooms, dried mushrooms, mushrooms’ oil, mushroom spirits, pasta, even as syropy sweets, though for many others, (if not nearly for all) wild mushrooms are a man’s job. And even meticulous, diligent, and especially dangerous for the ignorants, the less or more ones.

In Kastoria, mushroom collection is a daily and collective affair for the locals, on a sunny autumn day and in the kitchens of the area, mushrooms are the favorite ingrediens.

Whether Boletus edulis or otherwise known in Greece under the common name “basilomanitaro” and at an early age as “kalogeraki”, what the Italians call “porcino” and which is the mushroom found in abundance on the slopes of Vitsi.

Whether for Cantharellus cibarius or otherwise Kitrinousca, Pernarites, Kaitsa, Galetta, Otakia, Neratzaki… .. the mushroom makes the difference, without any kitchen experimentations, but with familiar – comforting flavors.

What about the Morchellas, one of the most delicious and sought-after mushrooms in French cuisine and not only, at a very precise price, extremely tasty but only after good cooking. Easy mushroom to recognize, due to its unusual (not to say ugly) appearance.

The Amanita Caesarea, popularly known as “Caesarean” while also known by the popular names “Avgoulomoulatko” (in Holomonta mt), “Kokkinushka” (in Grevena area), “Aygo”, Kokkinomanitaro or Neratzaki.

I never wouldn’t forget, leaving without any refernce to the Lactarius deliciosus, the famous milk cup, or Gematas, or Krasoulitis, or Kokkinitis a tasty mushroom with thick and tough flesh, sweet and slightly peppery taste.

Fresh, clear and nutty, the autumn mushrooms point the way, from the mountains of the area, to the kitchen.

 

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Though the sultry summer of 2019 is still fresh in our memories, it would seem that autumn is well and truly here. As of September morning temperatures hovered around 15 degrees Celsius, climbing to a peak of 25 at midday. That in turn marked a shift from fifteen days earlier when you might expect 20 degrees in the morning and 30-32 by noon. The writing’s on the wall folks: it ain’t getting any warmer.

But while cooler temperatures call for hats and windbreakers, they also herald the beginning of one of Kastoria’s most beloved times of year, the autumn foliage season.

A favorite Greek pastime in fall is to pack a picnic basket and set off with loved ones on a Sunday drive along one of the region’s many scenic byways. It’s a time of year when people enjoy crisp cool weather and marvel at the transforming landscape as tree leaves turn from lush green to gorgeous shades of yellow, orange, red, purple and brown.

The “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” of John Yeats’ ‘Ode to Autumn’ will soon be here, bringing a rich natural harvest of fruit, nuts and fungi.

Elderberries, apples, hazelnuts, chestnuts and walnuts are just some of the delicious wild finds of early autumn.

This celebration of food from nature is a great chance to explore the interesting tastes and flavours of wild food as well as spend some time outdoors, getting to know your local patch better.

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On the Greek side, tiny hermitages perch on rocky promontories, all reachable by motor boat from the little lake-side village of Psarades. Psarades, like most villages in the region, is a picturesque collection of sturdy squat stone houses with red-tiled rooves. The one hermitage is closest to Albania, hangs like an eagle’s aerie high up inside the vaulting canopy of a hollowed cliff face, reached by scores of steep stone steps from a pebbled beach mottled with yellow blooms.
They’re little more than small stone huts but their interiors are awash with golden-haloed saints in multicoloured garb.
Outside saggy-sacked pelicans are floating on the waters seeking to fill those yellow dewlaps of theirs with silver fish .
The surrounding juniper forests, the southernmost point in Europe for this species, are a favourite haunt of brown bears, who come down to the shore in spring to teach their cubs to swim, fish and climb rocks.

In the hillside village of Agios Germanos, about seven miles away, there’s an 11th century byzantine church – tiny, simple outside, full of golden icons within.
Just to the south of Psarades, amid equally superb scenery, lies Mikri (Little) Prespa Lake, once joined to Megali Prespa until silt built a narrow neck. Conversely Agios Ahillios (St. Achilles) Island was once a rocky promontory until the waters eroded its narrow neck, to be replaced by a series of pontoons.
Now it sits in Mikri Prespa’s deep green waters, surrounded by forested mountains and snow-capped peaks, topped by a little modern red-roofed church and girt with ruins of basilicas from long ago Byzantium.
It was from this island that Czar Samuel of Bulgaria ruled his mini-empire in the late 10th century, until Byzantium wrested it back, and the most impressive ruin is the concave shell of St. Achilles basilica which he built.
The others are fairly non-descript – a simple 16th century hut-like stone church by the half wall of the monastery of Panagia Porfira, a little tower at the 15th century Agios Giorgios Church, the ruined shell of 14th century Agios Demetrios.

Two gateways lead to the lake region. The one to the south, the pretty and lively town of Kastoria is easily accessible by bus or car, from Thessaloniki.

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