Saying Goodbye to Greece: Ioannina and Corfu

As the title suggests, we are leaving Greece for more adventures. It's a long story and we'll get to it but first a recap and our last trips in Greece. These two places have been on our bucket list since we arrived so we had to make time to do them before the craziness begins.

The Recap

It's been a busy few months since Rome. We celebrated "Meat Day," or Tsiknopempti (Smoky Thursday), with the rest of Greece. It's a traditional celebration occurring on the second Thursday of Carnival, before Clean Monday. The entire city turns out to grill meat and drink in the streets. Every store, shop, and restaurant has some kind of grill going out front! It was a blast.

In mid-March, I went to the USA to visit family in Colorado. The weather was surprisingly nice and I had a great time catching up with everyone.

Vergina & Veroia
At the end of the month, Scott and I rented a car and took a day trip up into the hills behind Thessaloniki. In the fall, we had visited the area during the peach harvest and I wanted to return to see all of the trees in bloom. It was beautiful with field after field of pink blossoms.

We also visited the Archeological Museum of Vergina. Built as a reconstructed burial mound, the museum is underground and has the excavated entrances to the tombs of Philip II (Alexander the Great's father), Philip III of Macedon (Alexander the Great's half-brother), and Alexander IV of Macedon (Alexander the Great's son). There is an impressive display of grave goods as well.

We then went to Veroia for lunch and to admire the beautiful Macedonian houses and Byzantine churches.

The wildflowers were in bloom and the goats were out and about as we went up to a lookout over the Haliacmon Reservoir.

It was a beautiful day.

IOANNINA

As I said, Ioannina has been on our Greek bucket list since we arrived. About four hours west of Thessaloniki, it is a really special town on the shore of Lake Pamvotida.

The setting is stunning with this beautiful lake surrounded by snow-capped peaks.

The city is the capitol of the Epirus Region of Northern Greece and the area has a fascinating history. It was originally a Greek city but it thrived in the Byzantine and Ottoman eras. The walled acropolis still exists and the oldest buildings are there including the Castle, the Fethiye Mosque, and the Aslan Pasha Mosque. The latter two still have their minarets, which are very rare to see in Greece as most were torn down after the defeat of the Turks.

In the middle of the lake is a small island and this is where we stayed. Its buildings are all stone, as are most of the villages around the lake and up into the mountainous areas around Epirus.

The highlight of the island is the walking path that circumnavigates it. One of the reasons for this trip in April was to see the spring wildflowers Greece is famous for and it did not disappoint. It's also an amazing place for bird watching and we enjoyed sitting by the lake watching the grebes, ducks, herons, and cormorants along with the tits and jays in the woods.

The island is quiet and peaceful and a perfect place to get away from the world. Everything is closed by 7:30 and the last boat from the mainland is at 8:00. So you have it to yourself until the next morning, for good or bad. We enjoyed the solitude but wouldn't have minded at least one place to stay open for an evening out.

THE ZAGORIA

Located in the Pindus Mountains of Epirus, there are 46 villages known as Zagori villages (or Zagorochoria or Zagorohoria) that together are designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Until the 1950's and modern roads, they were all linked by mountain roads and stone bridges. The stone arched bridges were built by benefactors in the 18th century and replaced older wooden bridges. We took a day trip to explore the region and it was such a wonderful day.

We started with three stone bridges, each more impressive than the last. The first was a simple single span bridge at Dilofo called the Kapetan Arkouda Bridge.

The second was an impressive single span at Koukouli, the Kokkorou Bridge built in 1750. Set between two pillars of stone and crossing the Vöidomátis River, it's a really beautiful bridge that you can still walk across!

And the third was the best! The three-arched bridge of Plakidas, also known as Kalogeriko, near the village of Kipoi and also crossing the Voidomatis, was really a work of art. It was a short walk down to it and you can also walk across it.

Looking up the river you can see the village blending into the rocks around it.

Next we went to the village of Monodendri (one tree), so named for the giant Plane tree that is in the center of the square.

Our purpose was to walk a path out of the village that leads to a monastery perched high above the Vikos Gorge. The Voidomatis river has its source in the Vikos Gorge and it is 990m deep near Monodendri. Mt Tymphe is 1350m and is the highest peak. It is one of the deepest gorges in the world and the deepest in proportion to its width. The walk and views were definitely worth it!

We traveled down through the valleys for awhile admiring all of the blooming trees and flowers and sheep...

...until we got to a viewpoint at the other end of the Vikos Gorge in the town of Vikos. A short walk up to a lookout led out to even more impressive views.

Our last stop was at a bridge where in the summer locals come to swim in the freezing but crystal clear waters of the Voidomatis. It is renowned as one of the cleanest rivers in Europe and the colors of the water are simply amazing. The bridge has been reinforced and cars still cross it.

It was a long day but well worth the 200 Euros we paid our driver to see this area where so much history took place and which remains largely as it has ever been.

The Epirus region was the very last in Greece to be unified into the Greek state. As such, its history is that much more complex and really shapes the people today. While Ioannina was under Ottoman rule, like most of the rest of Greece, for 500 years, towards the end of the period it achieved a semi-autonomous state under the Ottoman ruler Ali Pasha who was a Muslim Albanian. Much of the mountainous Zagori retained a level of independence even during the Ottoman rule, resisting the much greater power's influence. When Greece became independent in 1830, Epirus remained under Ottoman rule and would until The First Balkan War in 1912-13, almost a century after Greek independence, and even then it was only southern Epirus. The first Allied victory of the Second World War took place here when Greek forces pushed the Italian forces out of northern Epirus and back into Albania. Northern Epirus then changed hands between Greece and Albania and other countries until after the Second World War when it finally ended up as a part of Albania. Epirus also played a critical part in the Greek Civil War, with much of the final fighting taking place there and, in fact, the last defeat of the Communists took place in Epirus. One interesting note, as a result of Albania's support of the Communist faction in the civil war, a state of war existed between Albania and Greece until 1987!

All this is to say that this area of Greece feels much different from the rest of Greece. The people, while friendly to tourists, seem much more insular and decidedly less chatty and welcoming. There is a formality to their interactions you don't see much in Greece. The food is also very different. Meze weren't on the menu, the sharing of plates of food was much less with each diner ordering their own meals, and the food on offer was more rustic. On the island, live eels were displayed in cases rather than fish (we didn't try it). They are, however, proudly Greek and speak of their history with so much reverence. Many of the people our age had parents or grandparents fighting in these wars and their memories are very fresh.

All in all, Ioannina lived up to our expectations and then some. If you ever get the chance, stop for a few days and experience it for yourself!

We wrapped up our visit with wine along the lake and a beautiful sunset.

CORFU (KERKYRA)

We decided to do this trip by bus and ferry rather than renting a car and it was a good choice. We really didn't need a car at the places we picked so saving that money was nice. Greek buses are very nice, once you figure out how to book them, which can be a challenge! Anyway, the ferry from the port of Igoumenitsa on the mainland to Corfu is about an hour and a half and we had a beautiful day and calm seas.

Coming into Corfu, the view is dominated by the Old Fortress - a Venetian castle and fortress that played a pivotal role in keeping Corfu free during Ottoman rule of the rest of Greece. The fort was built on a manmade islet separated from the island by a huge walled moat.

The primary influences on Corfu are Venetian, they ruled here for 400 years starting in 1401. There was a very brief period of French rule followed by the British conquest of the Ionian Islands that lasted until they were gifted to the new king of Greece, George I, as a coronation gift from Britain. In 1864, they were made a part of the new Greek state.

As a result of this history, the island looks and feels very Italian and the influence on food and drink remain strong. No white wash and blue roofs here.

The British did contribute to the landscape, most notably in the Romanesque buildings of the Palace of St. Michael and St. George at the tip of the old town. There are great views from the gardens here.


It was wonderful to just sit in the sun, it was finally warm, with a glass of wine or enjoy whole grilled fish again. The food and ambiance of Corfu are amazing and we just soaked it up. Other than touring the town a little we didn't do anything!

Except...an all-day boat cruise to Paxos and Antipaxos, two other Ionian Islands. This was an epic trip! We were picked up from our hotel at 8:00 am and didn't return until 6:30 pm. It was a long day but it was beautifully warm and sunny and the sights were worth the time investment. Seeing the islands from the water is such a great way to explore. We started out from the port of Corfu and made our way up to Paxos. It's about an hour ride along the coast and first thing in the morning the mainland was all covered in an eery marine layer. It was really magical, if still a little cold on the water.

Our first stop was the village of Gaios on Paxos. It's a really unique port because the entry is almost fjord like. A long a narrow entry leads to the docks.

The village is super quaint and we enjoyed walking around it and just taking in the views.

From Gaios, we continued on to Mesovrika Beach on Anitpaxos where some brave souls actually went swimming. We stayed on the boat and admired the views. The limestone here is swirled and twisted into the most amazing formations and because of the white sand the waters are intense shades of blue.

We then sailed up the windward side of Paxos past the Tripitos Arch, the freestanding Ortholithos rock, and numerous small caves.

Our last stop was two huge limestone caves that our boat, which was not small, actually sailed into! It was so amazing.

It was a fabulous trip. While moving the wind was cold and we hid from it often on the side decks or inside but while we were stationary it was 80 and sunny. Spring is finally here and we're so thankful.

With Corfu, we have now visited five of the six island groups of Greece, the Ionian (Corfu, Paxos), Northern Sporades (Skopelos), Saronic (Spetses), Cyclades (Paros, Naxos, Syros), and the Dodecanese (Kos), along with Crete and Evia. You can search our blog if you're interested in those. Along with our two-week stay in Athens, our month-long trip around the Peloponnese and our various trips in northern Greece such as Meteora, the towns above Thessaloniki, and Ioannina, we feel like we've really explored Greece. And let me say we absolutely love this country. The people, the food, the landscapes, and the history are some of the best in the world. So why on earth are we leaving? Let me tell you.

TAKING OUR LEAVE

It all started, as so many of the things in our life do (notably our marriage haha!) with finances, in this case specifically, taxes. When we came to Greece, we did more research than you can imagine and we thought we had covered ALL of our bases. However, when we really got into the nitty gritty of filing our tax exemption for the 7% retiree tax break Greece offers, we realized that we don't both qualify. I am not yet drawing a pension and this is a requirement. There are other ways to show "retirement" income, such as 401k's but unfortunately all of my money is in Roth 401k's and these are not readily recognized by Greece. They are also taxed - when the entire purpose of a Roth is that you've ALREADY paid the taxes. Scott was okay with paying 7% on the Roth when we set out for Greece but without fully qualifying, we are subject to normal Greek taxes of more than 40% on all my income and that is not something we are prepared to do at this point.

Of course, our initial reaction was disappointment, sadness, and a real sense of loss of the future we had envisioned. But these feelings never last for either of us - we're just not the wallowing type - and we soon started to view the opportunities that this presented to us. In deciding to stay in Greece six months of the year and invest in an apartment, etc. we had pretty much given up on returning to Asia or seeing some of the other far flung places still on our list. It was a compromise we were willing to make. But now, well, the world has opened up again and we're excited to get back out there and see it. We plan to take the next two years or so to get to some of these places and then reevaluate. Apparently France might let us get residency AND they understand Roths. Or by then I'll have my pension and we could always come back to Greece. So who knows. For now, we're back on the road.

An immediate result of not getting the tax status is that we can't spend more than six months here in Greece this year. So, a summer of travel is ahead of us. First up is two weeks in June in Germany and France along the Moselle River and in the Black Forest. Then we're off for six weeks in July and August and headed to Bulgaria and Romania, two countries we really want to see before leaving this part of Europe. At the end of August, we head back to the US for a month for my mom's 90th birthday and to visit family and friends.

Then the real excitement begins! At the beginning of October, we leave for a 29-day trans-Pacific cruise through Hawaii, Western Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and finally Sydney, Australia. We plan to spend a month or so in Australia and then head to East Asia for the winter and spring. And we're even talking about doin the safaris we've always dreamed of! These are places we always wanted to see but never thought we would, really, so the dark cloud of having to leave Greece has a silver lining and we're super excited. Needless to say, lots more blog posts coming from all of these places. Stay tuned! It's going to be quite a year!