The guidebook to Greece said the Zagori park contains some spectacular scenery, guidebooks often over sell things but that is not the case here, the scenery is amazing. The picture above is of our hotel (Zagori Luxury Suites – very luxurious) and the view across the valley, which is covered in trees and has bears and wild boars lurking within ready to ambush any walkers. We only saw cows on our walk but I made sure Gill was in front in case we disturbed a bear.
This morning we walked downhill into the Vikos gorge which according to the Guinness book of records 1997 edition is the deepest canyon in the world being 900m deep and only 1,100m between the rims. I am sure the Grand Canyon and the Fish River Canyon are deeper but I suppose the narrowness makes it a record holder. Anyhow going down was easy and at the bottom were two very photogenic bridges.
Climbing back up was a little more demanding especially when I discovered the bar at the top was closed. The villages around here are geared up for tourists, almost every house is a guest house or restaurant but almost all are closed at the moment, we only met one other walker today. The village houses are all stone and have stone roofs and most of the lanes are narrow cobbled tracks, very photogenic. It might be hell in the high season but at the moment it is great.
We came across a “flash flood”. It wasn’t very flash but when we arrived at the bottom of the gorge there was no water and within 10 minutes there was plenty, despite the fact that it was not raining. The pictures were taken 10 minutes apart.