CULTURE Beyond the In the far north of , where the Hellenic landmass meets the Balkans, is the little known and staggeringly beautiful region of Zagori. Chris Fitch visits the stone forests and dramatic gorges of a once strategically crucial land

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eologically, this place is a baby,’ says local guide Apostolis Demertzis, waving his arms around emphatically. ‘What you see in this area is the outcome of the Glast two million years. This is why it’s so impressive.’ Impressive is quite the understatement. Popular imaginations of Greece are unlikely to conjure up anything that looks at all like the dramatic , a sharp glacial splinter running through the centre of this rugged limestone landscape. With a width-depth ratio of almost one-to-one, it holds the official Guinness record for the ‘world’s deepest gorge in proportion to width’. The name Vikos is Slavic for ‘echo’, and the foreboding cliffs either side of the gorge are aptly ABOVE: The ‘stone forest’ of Zagori – layered capable of bouncing sounds back-and-forth, the pillars of limestone; RIGHT: Vikos gorge is the ensuing reverberation steadily disappearing most dramatic part of Zagori’s landscape and is upwards into the heavens. Tentatively leaning considered the world’s deepest over the edge at the narrowest point, the cliff plunges down over a kilometre, to the thin stream just visible flowing far below our feet. ‘We’re talking about an extremely deep and from the steep and craggy mountains and narrow gorge,’ continues Demertzis, holding his shadowy ridges which emerge dramatically from palms close together to illustrate the tightness of the earth, rippling all the way to the horizon. This the rift that the ledge we’re standing on is within. terrain implicitly gives the region its name: ‘But it’s not a geological fault. Approximately 15 ‘Zagori’, translating as ‘the place beyond the million years ago, all these mountains started to mountains’ (a Slavic name, combining za – come out of the surface of the sea. During the ice ‘beyond’ – and gora – ‘mountains’). age, huge amounts of ice gathered in the Even the drive up to the key vantage point for mountains. When the ice age ended, this ice was Vikos gorge, probably Zagori’s most dramatic melting. Limestone is penetrated by water, and focal point, is populated by a never-ending series the water makes cracks. This crack was enlarged of eye-catching features, such as the so-called and enlarged over the last two million years.’ ‘stone forest’. These entirely natural layered pillars of limestone, appearing like large CULTURAL VIEWPOINTS pancakes stacked atop each other, have been left Perhaps surprisingly, around 80 per cent of behind by the melting of the annual snowfall mainland Greece is mountainous, thanks to the which collects on the summit of this karstic, collision of the Eurasian and African tectonic plateau-like structure. As it percolates through plates many millions of years ago. Most the ground, leaving these striking natural dominating is the long chain, monuments in its wake, the water eventually which stretch more than 100 miles up the reappears at lower altitudes, helping form such country’s spine, from the Peloponnese in the waterways as the river – deemed the south, to the Albanian border in the north. Here, cleanest river in Greece (and one of the cleanest the landscape is dominated by towering peaks in the entire European Union). such as – at 2,637m, the second highest These unique geological characteristics have mountain in Greece – and the 2,497m , part had significant cultural consequences for Zagori. of the plateau which is home to the Vikos gorge. Even more than the rest of Greece, the region’s This region, a short drive from the regional hub sovereignty has waxed and waned over millennia, of urban , feels essentially defined by its with borders shuffling back and forth across geology. Instead of the bright, blue-and-white southeast Europe in line with the conquests and houses made famous by Mykonos and Greece’s revolutions of the period. Most pertinent was its other famous Mediterranean island hotspots, historical relationship with the , you’ll instead find roughly hewn buildings and which held imperial rule over almost all of Greece undulating bridges of grey limestone, carved for several centuries, ever since conquering the >

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ABOVE: Aristi, in western Zagori, is one of several villages that have begun to embrace tourism as a method for arresting the decline that has seen many others in the region become little more than ‘ghots towns’; TOP, LEFT: The Northern Pindos National Park has been tentatively selected to receive official UNESCO World Heritage status

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Zagori > country in the 15th century by driving out the in the Peloponnese half a century earlier finally weakened Byzantine forces. reached the region. ‘When the privileges were Unlike their compatriots, Demertzis explains, stopped, it was a disaster for the Zagori economy, the Zagorisians held firm against the Ottoman and it is key for understanding the decline,’ says invaders, their tough and relatively inaccessible Kahl. This ‘decline’ saw the long, drawn out demise physical environment allegedly central to their of the local population, what Demertzis repeatedly ability to resist conquest for over 200 years. calls the ‘decay of civilisation’. Accelerated by the Living in this part of the world has historically construction of asphalt roads in the latter part of been a very tough existence, with locals required the 20th century, which enabled the young to to negotiate the heat of Greek summers with the escape to more fast-paced lifestyles in Ioannina freezing, snow-ridden temperatures of high and , the modern-day population now altitude winters. A few Turkish soldiers venturing numbers around only 2,000 people, which, as into the mountains, far outside their comfort Demertzis is keen to point out, is less than ten per zone, wasn’t a challenge likely to ever cause them cent of that from the mid-19th century. too many problems. The prosperity of the days of the ‘privileges’ ‘This was the gate to the Ottoman Empire!’ feels a very long time gone when compared to announces Demertzis, directing my attention standing in most of the villages today, now home towards one end of the Vikos gorge. A single tree, to only a handful of residents – almost entirely situated at the forking of some ancient trails, and elderly retirees – and some with no permanent shaded by an imposing shadow cast by the steep inhabitants at all. ‘When the old people pass northern ridge, marks what became essentially away, nothing will be there,’ Demertzis says with the border between Zagori, and the vast, an air of melancholy. sprawling Ottoman world which surrounded them. Having failed to defeat the tough WIDER RECOGNITION Zagorisians, the Ottomans were forced to the However, rising awareness of the dramatic Zagori negotiating table, and eventually struck a deal landscape is changing the narrative on this whereby residents of Zagori would receive decline, drawing tourists from around the world. special ‘privileges’, granting them a level of Key sights such as Vikos and the neighbouring autonomy and freedom to travel that was gorge, coupled with the unique cultural unknown to the rest of conquered Greece. history and traditional infrastructure of the wider natural landscape of the Northern Pindos National Park, appear to be increasingly attracting people to this remote location. The few villages that In Monodendri, the Zagorisian village which UNESCO World Heritage Site. ‘No similar mixed ABOVE: Restaurants because of the unique beauty of the landscape acts as the main stopping point for visitors hiking cultural and natural sites in the wider Balkan area, in Zagori villages such and attracted alternative tourism visitors. Now up to Vikos gorge, a man known simply as ‘Akis’, with a corresponding geomorphology, are as Monodendri are there is a new interpretation of the area, creating embraced tourism are who runs the local restaurant I Pita Tis Kikitsas inscribed on the World Heritage List,’ reads the noting that visitor favourable conditions for sustainable geotourism.’ (‘The Pie of Kiki’), has noticed a significant change application from the Permanent Delegation of numbers from outside Certainly, Paschos is keen to espouse the experiencing a boom in his clientele since he started in 1996. ‘This is Greece to UNESCO. Highlighting the strong the country are on the merits of properly managed tourism in the the first time that people started coming from linkages between the landscape, and the rise, most drawn by a region, especially from budding geologists. outside Greece in winter,’ he whispers, nodding at corresponding culture which evolved within the new awareness of the ‘Sustainable geotourism will have a double ‘To understand Zagori, you should ask, what couples dining a few tables over. ‘We’ve had a lot Ottoman empire, the application claims that the landscape’s vistas effect,’ he explains. ‘On the one hand it will were these privileges?’ ponders Thede Kahl, of people, from different countries. From France, uniqueness of the region, ‘lies in the imprint of strengthen the local economy by attracting Director of the Institute of Slavic Studies and Germany, the Netherlands, Israel, Scandinavia, their particular cultural and historical journey visitors and providing new products. On the Caucasus Studies, and Professor for South Slavic United Kingdom, and the United States.’ through time, as it is apparent on both built other, it will contribute to the popularisation of Studies at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Contrary to the wider story of decline, the few (anthropogenetic) and natural environment.’ geological science, to understand how geological Germany. ‘It sounds a bit ironic, because the villages which have whole-heartedly embraced Regardless of whether World Heritage status processes influence in biodiversity, the landscape, Ottoman empire was a period of suppression, but the opportunities tourism provides – including ever does come to pass, the UNESCO brand is the people and the culture.’ the mountain people profited from this. They had Monodendri and the nearby resort hotspot of already proving beneficial. In recognition of its Ultimately, this collaboration between ancient advantages, because they had a separate Aristi – are experiencing something of a boom. unique geological circumstances, the UNESCO geology and contemporary culture and tourism economy, and they had liberty to go and to trade According to Akis, the visual spectacle of Vikos Vikos-Aoos European Geopark was established in is looking to reap rewards for the entire region, a – with Egypt and Wallachia [a region of modern- gorge and the surrounding landscape is a key 2010, and upgraded recently to become a Global physical-human success story that is putting this day ].’ This freedom to travel and trade component of this transformation, as modern Geopark, one of only 127 around the world. Such part of the world firmly on the map. It may even led to the subsequent emigration of many young technology enables more and more of the world a designation deems the 1,200 sq km area to have nudge enough imaginations to make people Zagorisians, ambitious individuals who would to find out about Zagori’s existence. ‘Now ‘geological heritage of international value’, aware that Greece is a lot more than just one day return and shower the region with great information is spreading on the internet,’ outlines particularly noting its ‘wonderful gorges, rock picturesque islands. ‘You are in Zagori now,’ wealth, knowledge, and prosperity, quite the Demertzis. ‘We’re trying to say to the world, towers, rivers, stone bridges, traditional proclaims Demertzis. ‘This is the real Greece!’ juxtaposition from much of the rest of the Balkans. Greece is not only the islands. Come to visit other architecture and thermal baths’. ‘They had an elite situation,’ explains Kahl. parts of Greece, even in winter! This effort, after ‘Recognising the region as a UNESCO Global The trip was supported by the Greek National However, these special conditions began to all these years, is beginning to show feedback.’ Geopark adds new dynamics to the development Tourism Organisation. For more details, see waver following the death of infamous Ottoman Such a process may well ramp up further, given here,’ explains geologist Panagiotis Paschos, visitgreece.gr. Additionally, for an account commander Ali Pasha in 1822, and finally came to that the Northern Pindos National Park is now on scientific associate at the Vikos–Aoos UNESCO of hiking along the ancient trails of Zagori, a halt in 1868, when revolutions that had started the tentative list to become a fully-fledged Global Geopark. ‘Until now the area was known visit geog.gr/zagori-hiking.

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