Cows, Donkeys and Flamingos

One week ago today, after a four-week journey, we finally entered Greece. To be more precise, in the mountains of Epirus. This is the northernmost mountain range in Greece, and despite the small mountain villages, well-developed roads, and great hiking trails with different destinations, tourism is not big here.

The reason for our trip was the Vikos Gorge. Unfortunately, Basti was not feeling well at the time, so on the day of arrival, I went hiking alone to explore the area. After a short walk to the nearest village, I came across a trail running path that goes through this area. Since it was already too late to climb a mountain peak, I decided to follow this trail. It led me through the beginnings of the gorge, through three mountain villages, and past natural hot springs. As it was known to be very hot and dry in Greece this year, all lakes, baths, and rivers were dried up even at an altitude of 1000 meters. After an expensive but soothing cappuccino in a café, I returned to the tired Basti.
On day 2, Basti's health was already better, and I suspect it was due to the mules that woke us up at our car in the morning. A mule in the morning drives away sorrow and grief! So we went straight to the village of Vikos to descend into the gorge from there. We descended a total of 500 meters in altitude, passing the (flowing!) Voidamitis River and entering the gorge. It is about 10 km long, of which we walked about five in one direction and then back again. However, the great "aha" moment did not occur. The gorge is very wooded, so the 1000-meter-high cliffs were not easily visible. You actually get a better view from one of the viewpoints above the gorge.

After another night surrounded by mountains, the second destination was Ambrakian Gulf, with a stopover in the small town of Arta. The gulf is an inland body of water with a variety of creatures. According to Google, injured dolphins or non-viable young animals from the Ionian Sea are even brought there to be nurtured back to health. Unfortunately, we didn't see any dolphins, but we did see pelicans and many, very loud flamingos. We parked our car for one night at the end of the fishing village of Koronisia, so we had a panoramic sea view. In addition to animals and crystal clear water, a small storm approached in the evening, of which we were only on the outskirts. Nevertheless, there was a spectacular sky that we preferred to observe from the car because of the strong gusts of wind in the evening 😊.