I am sure you have all been out enjoying the European Weekend of Culture, somehow it did not get into our diaries but great news, all the museums in Greece were free this weekend, had we known we would have picked the most expensive places to visit. As it is we managed one yesterday and four today so probably 30 euro saved. What is more they were all empty so perhaps news of the bargain was kept secret.
This morning we visited the Oracle at Dodoni, in ancient times you wrote your question on a piece of lead, gave it to the priestess who then determined the answer from the rustling of the leaves of the sacred oak tree (pictured), the noise of the doves who nested there or anything else which took her fancy, supposedly it was a direct line to Zeus. What the answer would be if you submitted your question and all the doves flew off goodness knows.
I suppose it is an early version of Alexa, and probably just as reliable.
We are staying within the castle walls of Ioannina, this was the stronghold of Ali Pasha who was a successful warlord in this part of the world. Despite having a reputation for violence he understood the need to accommodate Christians within his kingdom (he was a Muslim). His mosque is pictured.
Unfortunately he became a bit too big for his boots and tried to take on the Ottoman Empire and lost his head in 1822 but he was a significant distraction to the Ottoman Sultan who failed to notice the Greek rebellion taking off at the same time. Perhaps if Ali had tempered his ambitions there would be no Greece.
We had a walk round the castle and it’s three museums followed by a pleasant hour watching the world go by from a bar next to the lake.
As you can see I have not quite got the selfie technique quite right, I am always looking down my nose working out how to press the shutter.