Monday 9 January 2017

Tsepelovo

Hello everyone and happy new year again!
Greece is under a Siberian cold attack and we are all inside the house trying to keep warm.
Yesterday at night it was the coldest night in Thessaloniki for the last 45 years.
We now have -8 degrees but you feel it as -18 as it is blowing hard but we have no snow.
What we also don't have is hot water as the pipes are frozen. At least we still have cold water and heating.My heart goes to all those people around the country, mainly refugees who are in tents under such circumstances.As well as to all those people travelling in frozen roads. Just return home safe!
Anyway as you can see by the title of this blogpost I am going to tell you about our 3-day trip to Tsepelovo, a mountainous village near Ioannina.
The 3-day trip became a 2-day trip in the end,in fact we only stayed at Tsepelovo two nights and one and a half  day because of the weather but I still don't mind. It was enough to see how beautiful the place is and the whole area around it and decide to go again in Spring or Summer.
So we started on Wednesday 4th in the morning.
Although we started with sunshine,

 it soon turned into rain
and we even saw snow on the way.
On the way I wrote a letter
and read a bit on my book Malkin Moonlight by Emma Cox.
The last 30 km of the route are on the mountain with beautiful plants and trees,
 and bridges like this bridge called Captain Arkoudas bridge.
We loved crossing it.

 We also crossed the bigger one,Kokkoris bridge.
As we were arriving at Tsepelovo the weather got worse.


 Finally we arrived at 4 in the afternoon. This was what we saw first.
We had booked at Hotel Kadi so we settled there first. It was just around the corner from the village square. A beautiful clean building.
Here's our room
 and the view from it.

Then we went for a short walk in the village.Unfortunately everything was closed, the gallery,

 the church, the photography museum
 so really there was nothing to see but walk around the beautiful square.

 There was a Christmas tree and a nativity scene

and a huge Santa outside a hotel.
We decided to take our hotel owner's advice and had lunch at Mikri Arktos
It is a beautiful clean restaurant with excellent food.

 The food was delicious.We had the special dish with pork, potatoes and cheeses, beans with green leaves, cabbage and carrot salad, and feta cheese.
Afterwards we took some rest during which fog spread everywhere.
When it cleared we walked around again spotting beautiful things although it was raining heavily.


Then we went for dessert to Iris cafe and dessert shop.It is beautiful inside out.

 The lemon pie and the orange pie were divine!
The next morning the weather seemed to clear a bit more so we hit the road!
Our first stop was at Rongovou monastery which was also closed because it is being renovated.

There we had trouble as the car took a slide at mud but luckily it wasn't very serious.
Our next stop was Kapesovo village.

 I still don't know why I didn't get inside this lovely looking shop and cafe called Sterna, I will definitely next time!!
 The square was lovely too. But we went inside an old cafe to see their old well.

Then we visited the 1865 built Kalogeriko-Plakida bridge.
 There I had the chance to take some macro photos.





We also visited Kipi village (it means gardens)
Then we visited the 1764 built Lazaridi-Kondodimou bridge which had a surprise for us as the river passing underneath it was frozen.



Look at this stone, doesn't it look like it floats?

And look at this heart stone there in between two layers of ice!One on top the other on the bottom!
I loved the diverse plants in the area.



Our next stop was Dilopho village with a most beautiful square.


These boots are made for walking!I am glad I bought new boots before going to the trip.
As it started raining again we decided to stop our tour and return for late lunch at the same restaurant.This time we tried boar and spinach pie.

 We returned to the hotel and spent some time looking around at the books of the beautiful bookcase in the living room of the hotel.What an asset for a hotel that is.

 Again in the evening we went to the same cafe and had coffee and lemon pie as well as ekmek.
 The next morning we had a surprise. It had snowed at night and everything was white. Although that looked great as a view it was a problem for us. So we decided to leave as the weather forecast predicted more snow and very low temperatures.



 The road was white and we were probably the first or second car to go down the 30 km of dangerous road to the highway.







Here's a video to see how we drove on this road.
The highway was no problem.There was no snow on the road but everything was snowed all around. It was -6 all the way and very windy but thank God we arrived safely!


All in all it was an excellent 2-day trip! I really want to go back there under better conditions.
Returning to Thessaloniki the weather got even worse and the low barometric "Ariadne" causes great trouble. It is windy and very very cold in our city, it has been snowing in other parts of Greece, the refugees are in tents under snow, schools are closed, there is no water or electricity in many parts.And it seems that it isn't ending soon! Hope you are safe and warm in your part of the world!

18 comments:

Kaisievic said...

So sorry it is so very cold in Greece at the moment, Ariadne - we are having the opposite problem here in Melbourne - too hot! I do feel for the refugees, how hard it must be for them. Thank you for taking us on your trip with you - gorgeous, gorgeous photos - I loved all of the bridges the most and the macro photos.

Purple Pixie Dust said...

Boy, that was a nice trip, wish I could go too. I loved seeing all the cattle on the sides of the roads. Are there no fences used. The food looked amazing. You made my mouth water for the lemon pie. Big hugs Hope you get to go back in the summer in better weather. here today it was -34 and very cold.

Bea said...

Fantastic pictures! Thank you for sharing the beauty of your country.

Wind chill is a problem everywhere - the thermometer says -5, but the wind makes it -10 or -15. Not a good time to be living in tents. I hope it warms up soon.

Barb said...

This was such an interesting post for me. What beautiful country and I loved all those village photos. They looked like the perfect place to visit in the warmer weather, although they were lovely in winter. The bridges were also very interesting. I am glad you got home safely. The whole word must be cold at least the Northern Hemisphere. We have been having the coldest temps in years. We have shelters for the homeless but not everyone can get to them. Very disturbing. Stay warm and safe!

devonseaglass said...

What an adventure; some people have to travel weeks to experience such danger and walk over 1000 year old stone bridges!

Mii Stitch said...

What a beautiful place that was!! I love all the building and houses are made of stones, it's has that mountain feels and I love it.
I hope you will have the opportunity to go again when the weather is better.
Stay safe in this bad weather. Apparently it is heading towards the UK by the end of this week...

Astrids dragon said...

In spite of the weather, it looks like you had a lovely time. What a beautiful area, especially with the snow! Thank you for sharing.

Tiffstitch said...

Yikes, I'm glad you had a nice time despite the weather. Hope it warms up soon!

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

That does look like an amazing place to visit and hopefully you can go back when more things are open. My favorite view is that huge bridge! I hope and pray everyone is safe during the frigid weather. Sweet hugs to you my friend, Diane

Rhona said...

What a great trip....your pictures are wonderful! Stay warm and safe.

Marie-Anne said...

What a beautiful place you have been to, Ariadne!!! In spite of the bad weather you still had the time to visit several villages and those historical bridges!
All your photos are super and the macro ones just gorgeous! I am sure you enjoyed your trip very much!

Brigitte said...

Tsepelovo must be a gerat place, even in the winter. Lots of wonderful sights and good food. I particularly love these old bridges ...

Χριστίνα Πεταλωτή said...

Εντυπωσιάστηκα με το χωριό! Ευχαριστούμε για την καταπληκτική ξενάγηση! Όνειρο!

Ο κόσμος της Ράνιας said...

Πολύ όμορφο ταξείδι... φαντάζομαι θα το απολαύσατε ιδιαιτέρως !!! Οι φωτογραφίες σου καταπληκτικές !!!! Μπράβο...πάντα να περνάτε όμορφα !!!!

Carol @Comfort Spring Station said...

Lovely collection of winter photos

Aritha V. said...

Love to see the Kokkoris bridge and all the others!

Ros Crawford said...

More wonderful photos for our prompt! Thanks so much for sharing with us at OBW!!

PetraB said...

The phoos are great, it seemed to be a lovely trip. .. hope the weather will improve soon for everyone. .. stay safe and warm