As many of you might know, every year I am fortunate to be able to spend a good amount of my summer visiting Greece. This year, after spending some time in Athens, we travelled north, to my home city of Ioannina and to Epirus, its surrounding area.
Today’s post is slightly different than usual as its focus is on travel photos rather than on food photos and a recipe. I wanted to share a few photos from my trip to Greece this summer that I think you will enjoy. I wanted to share with you the beauty of Northern Greece.
With Ioannina as our base, we explored the stunningly beautiful and mountainous region of the Zagoria, a cluster of over 45 traditional villages and hamlets, known for its characteristic architecture, the well-preserved stone houses, and the masterfully-built, stone-arched bridges. This area is full of hidden treasures: forests, massive cliffs, tiny winding roads, hiking trails and the mighty Vikos gorge–among the deepest gorges in the world.
Wherever I am, I always love to photograph doors. In every region the feel and the colors are completely different.
Besides the mountains, northwestern Greece has also a beautiful coastline, so we made sure to visit a few nearby Ionian coastal towns that are very pretty, especially during the golden hour.
I hope you enjoyed this virtual tour of northwestern Greece as much as I enjoyed sharing it with you. Every time I am there, I am reminded that Greece is so much more than its famous islands. So many off-the-beaten-path places are still waiting to be discovered!
THANK YOU FOR READING AND FOLLOWING ALONG
If you are not already following my blog, you can subscribe to Marilena’s Kitchen to have every new post delivered right to your inbox!
I love hearing from you, please leave me a comment below.
All photos in this blog are mine, and the content is written by me. Both are copyright protected. Although sharing of my posts is encouraged and appreciated, reposting the full recipe to social media or to other blogs without prior permission is prohibited.
If you wish to re-publish this recipe, please ask first and make sure to link back to marilenaskitchen.com
Thank you!
Such beautiful pictures! You are a fantastic photographer!! Thank you for sharing this with us!
Thank you so much Susanne. So glad you liked the photos from Northern Greece!
Very nice photos!
Thank you! ?
I look forward to these photos each year. They are so wonderful. Thanks so much for sharing with all of us. It’s such a vicarious thrill. Looking forward to some cooking this weekend and hoping to try a new recipe of yours and fix your meatballs and potatoes for friends who need a little extra support right now.
That makes me so happy to know Sandy! I enjoyed going through my many photos and selecting a few to share!
Thank you also for trying my recipes – I am sure this will mean a lot to your friends.
Very beautiful photos Marilena! I loved the charm of these old doors and your take of the old double arched bridge that highlights the beauty of Greece in the best possible way!
Thank you so much Marianna! I know you have travelled around the area of Zagoria, so I knew you would appreciate the photos!
My dear Marilena, you are the best good will ambassador for Greece and Zagoria. Thank you
So much .
Nina
That is so sweet for you to say! Thank you so much – you really made my day! ???
Northern Greece has many wonderful treasures to visit. You’ve done a great job of showing how gorgeous it really is!
Thank you very much Nick! Yes, Northern Greece is beautiful and so worth a visit!
I am hoping you are the link to recipes from Epirus. My mother was born in Hrisovitsa, a village in this area… your photos bring back childhood memories of the only visit we shared with our γιαγια. I long for the simple recipes my mom so economically mastered…delicious foods which were healthy and filling. Foods from the fields of the village….especially the pites. I have yet to find a recipe book from this region or even a link on line. You have rekindled such loving memories of foods that family’s today would not only enjoy but find great benefit, economically as well as health.
I would so enjoy a pita recipe where you actually roll the dough out yourself.
Thank you for connecting,
Freida
Hi Freida,
Thank you so much for getting in touch and for your kind words! Yes, Hrisovitsa is very close to Ioannina where I grew up. Many of my Greek recipes are based on the traditional Northern Greek cuisine. I have many filo pies on the blog, the “Authentic Greek Spanakopita with mixed greens” recipe is an example of that. I do want to do a post on home-made filo dough some time soon!