Ioannina

The first time you round the bend in the road and see Ioannina appear across the water, you understand why this place has captivated travellers for centuries. The lake stretches out like a sheet of mercury, with the grey-green bulk of Mount Mitsikeli rising behind it, and the castle — the massive, walled Kastro — juts into the water like a stone ship at anchor. On a foggy afternoon in November the island in the lake, Nisi, is barely visible through the mist, a dark shape dotted with the domes of its Byzantine monasteries. A short ferry crossing reaches the Monastery of Philanthroponon, where frescoes from the 16th century still gleam on the walls — painted by monks who were among the last great manuscript illuminators of the Orthodox world. The Nisi is a world apart: no cars, a handful of tavernas serving eel from the lake, and seven monasteries, of which the Monastery of Agios Panteleimonas survives as a museum. Back in the city, the Kastro is a living neighbourhood. Within its walls, the old Turkish quarter of Kourmanio preserves Ottoman-era houses with wooden balconies overhanging the narrow streets. The Aslan Pasha Mosque, built in 1618, now houses the Municipal Ethnographic Museum, where the story of Ioannina's communities — Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish — unfolds through costumes, silverware, and household objects. The Litharitsia district is where to eat: the old buildings are now tavernas serving grilled trout from the lake, washed down with tsipouro. The food, the lake, the fortress, the mountain — Ioannina has a completeness that most cities lack. It is a world unto itself, and once you arrive, you will not want to leave.

Ioannina's history stretches back to antiquity — the area was inhabited by the Molossians, and the ancient Oracle of Dodoni lies just 22 kilometres to the south — but but the city itself is first mentioned in the ecclesiastical registers of the 9th and 10th centuries. The name Ioannina is first mentioned in the 9th century, and the city grew in importance as a provincial centre of the Byzantine Empire. In 1082, it was captured by the Normans under Bohemond I of Antioch, and in 1204, after the Fourth Crusade, it became part of the Despotate of Epirus, a Byzantine successor state. The Despotate ruled until 1430, when Ioannina surrendered to the Ottoman Empire — on remarkably favourable terms, negotiated by the city's aristocracy, allowing Christians to keep their churches and property in exchange for loyalty. Under Ottoman rule, Ioannina flourished. It became a major centre of Greek learning and culture during the 17th and 18th centuries, home to the famous Maroutsaia School and the Balaneios School, where scholars taught philosophy, science, and the classics. The city's Jewish community, which had existed since the Hellenistic period and was later joined by Romaniote and Sephardic Jews, thrived in the Kastro. The most famous figure in Ioannina's history is Ali Pasha of Tepelena, the Ottoman Albanian ruler who made Ioannina his capital in 1788. Ali Pasha ruled Epirus with a combination of brutality and brilliant diplomacy, modernising the city, building the Aslan Pasha Mosque and the Fethiye Mosque within the castle, and entertaining European diplomats and writers — Lord Byron visited him in 1809 and wrote about the encounter. Ali Pasha's reign ended in 1822 when Ottoman forces besieged him in the castle; he was killed on the island of Nisi, where a small museum now marks his grave. After the Balkan Wars, Ioannina was incorporated into Greece in 1913. During World War II, the city's Jewish community — one of the oldest in Europe — was deported and nearly annihilated in Auschwitz. Today, Ioannina is a vibrant university city, the capital of Epirus, and a centre for the silversmithing and goldsmithing traditions that have been practised here since Byzantine times. The University of Ioannina, founded in 1964 and opened in 1970, is one of the largest in Greece, bringing a youthful energy to the ancient streets of the Kastro.

Ioannina is an inland city on the shores of Lake Pamvotis at four hundred and eighty metres, and the lake is the beginning of the water rather than the end of it. There are a few pebbly places where locals swim in summer, the best being on the northern shore near the village of Ampelia, where the water is clean and the view up to the castle is the point. The real beaches are a long way west: the Ionian coast of Thesprotia and Preveza is about ninety minutes off, and Sivota is the closest of them, a protected bay of golden sand and small coves with tavernas on the beach. Parga, with its hilltop castle, is further south and just as good — Valtos below the walls, or the quieter coves of Lichnos. Inland, in the other direction, Epirus turns serious: Metsovo, the highest town in the region and a genuine mountain settlement; the Zagori to the north, with its stone villages and the deep cut of the Vikos Gorge; and Dodoni, twenty-two kilometres away, one of the oldest sacred sites in Europe.

Ioannina's cuisine is Epirus mountain cooking at its finest — hearty, slow-cooked, and deeply connected to the land and the lake. The signature dish of the city is eel from Lake Pamvotis, grilled or cooked in a rich tomato sauce with herbs (helvesi). It is not for the faint-hearted, but it is the authentic taste of the lake. The other great lake fish is the local trout (pestrofa), which appears on every taverna menu — grilled whole with lemon and olive oil, or battered and fried. The city's specialty is tsipouro with meze — the local spirit, distilled from grape pomace, is served in small carafes with a rotating selection of small plates: cheese, olives, cured meats, and fried lake fish. In the tavernas of the Kastro and the Litharitsia district, you order a carafe and the meze keep coming until you say stop. The cheese of Epirus is exceptional. Try the hard, salty graviera from the mountains around Metsovo, the soft and creamy metsovone (a smoked cheese that is delicious grilled), and the feta from the Zagori villages, which has a distinct, tangy flavour from the herbs the goats graze on. The meat dishes are rustic and satisfying: kontosouvli (slow-roasted pork on a spit), grilled lamb chops from the local sheep, and the traditional kokoretsi (spiced offal wrapped in caul fat and grilled), which is especially popular during Easter. The vegetable dishes include the famous boubari — stuffed peppers and tomatoes with rice and herbs — and a local take on spanakopita that uses wild greens (horta) from the mountain slopes. For dessert, try baklava from one of the old pastry shops in the Kastro, or the local halva — a dense, sweet confection made from tahini and honey. And to end the meal, order a glass of tsipouro, neat, and raise it to the lake and the mountain — the two forces that define Ioannina.

Ioannina is a city of four distinct seasons. Spring (April to June) is when the city is at its most beautiful: the mountains are green, the lake is full, and the wildflowers cover the slopes of Mitsikeli. The weather is mild (18–25 °C), perfect for exploring the Kastro or taking the ferry to the island. Summer (July to August) is warm but not oppressively hot — the lake breeze keeps temperatures bearable (28–33 °C), and the evening volta along the lakeshore is a daily ritual. The Festival of Ioannina takes place in July and August, with concerts, theatre, and dance performances in the Kastro and at the Ancient Theatre of Dodoni. Autumn (September to November) is spectacular: the plane trees turn golden, the mist rises off the lake in the morning, and the city takes on a moody, atmospheric quality that photographers love. The lake is calmest in autumn, and the reflections are stunning. Winter (December to February) is cold — temperatures often drop to 0–5 °C, and the mountains around the city are covered in snow. The view of the castle and the lake against a backdrop of snow-capped peaks is one of the most beautiful in Greece. The city has a cosy winter atmosphere, with wood-fired tavernas and the warm hospitality of the Epirus highlands. For a truly magical experience, visit in late autumn or early winter, when the fog sits low on the lake and the castle seems to float on a sea of clouds.

Ioannina has an airport (IOA) with daily flights from Athens. The city's bus station connects it by road to Athens, Thessaloniki and most other major Greek cities.

The Kastro is divided into two parts: the Its Kale (inner citadel) and the outer walled city. Start at the Its Kale, where the Fethiye Mosque, the Byzantine Museum, and Ali Pasha's tomb are located, then wander through the narrow streets of the Kourmanio neighbourhood. The best view of the city and the lake is from the Clock Tower (Roloi) in the Kastro — the climb is steep, but the panorama is worth it. The ferry to the island (Nisi) leaves from the dock below the Kastro every hour from 8 am to 8 pm (more frequently in summer). The crossing takes 10 minutes. On the island, visit the Monastery of Philanthroponon (the frescoes are the main attraction) and the Ali Pasha Museum in the Monastery of Agios Panteleimonas, where he was killed. The Perama Cave is about 4 km from the city centre and is best reached by taxi — the guided tour takes about 45 minutes and is suitable for all ages. For the best tsipouro experience, head to the tavernas of Litharitsia, where the tradition of 'tsipouro with meze' is taken seriously: order one carafe and the small plates (meze) will keep arriving for an hour or more. The city's silversmiths are world-famous — the workshops on Kaloutsiani Street in the Kastro sell handmade silver jewellery at fair prices. For day trips to the Zagori villages, the Vikos Gorge, or the beaches of Sivota and Parga, a rental car is essential. And the one thing every local will tell you: do not leave without walking the lakeside promenade at sunset, when the castle is silhouetted against the orange sky and the lights of the island begin to twinkle across the water.