‘Lights on Prespa’ – 27 July – 1 August 2011 A ‘Tourism’ Camp
In this document you will find the description of “Lights on Prespa” and some information about tourism in Prespa .
1. Description of the project
Prespa is a region where nature and culture come together in a perfect balance. The mountainous landscape and lakes embrace the hardship of the climate and rural villages all around making it a magical sight to be seen. The people always welcome you with a smile on their face and are always eager to talk to new people and tell stories about the village that will fascinate anyone. Exploring the nature and people in Prespa is an adventure one can never forget.
However, as in all rural villages, young people don’t have access to the same social and cultural advantages as the youth in urban areas. To support change it is important for local Prespa Youth to exchange with young people from other European countries and with different backgrounds. By visiting Prespa, young people from abroad will have the chance to discover the region whilst locals get a glimpse of different cultures and re-discover the magic of their own world through the eyes of foreigners. Bearing this in mind, we invite you to join us in a camp at the Prespa lake shore where young people meet and share their experiences and different ways of life. “Lights on Prespa” will take place between the 27 th of July and 1 st of August with the aim to create suggestions for how to make Prespa a more attractive tourism destination for young people.
We will choose 4 villages of Prespa, visit them, speak to the inhabitants, find out the history, attractions, habits and costumes, understand the particularities and suggest ideas of how to make and present a tourism offer that is attractive to young people all over.
We will all stay in the Municipality sports’ court Patoulideio which provides all necessary facilities. Besides the main activities let’s prepare an open space where each of you can organize her or his own activity for the other participants and the local community, cultural nights with the presentation of your country’s characteristics, astronomy night, sports activities and a lot of fun stuff. We provide free food in the camp, but you have to cover your own travel expenses. Please bring your tents and sleeping bags!
AGIOS GERMANOS, 53077, PRESPES, GREECE Tel.30-23850-51332, fax 30-23850-51210, [email protected] , www.ctp.gr , www.transnatura.gr
2. Prespa’s Tourism Situation
The region of Prespa is a mountainous area placed around the small and great Prespa lakes and across three neighbouring countries as Albania, fYR of Macedonia and Greece. Due to its position it is a rurally isolated area: the Greek part includes 19 villages between 1 and 200 inhabitants each and counts totally 2500 people. The villages are quite far from each other; something that makes local transport difficult. There is no public transportation: buses connect the region with the city of Florina only on three days weekly.
The core of Greek Prespa is its national park established in 1974 and well- known for its biodiversity. Foxes, wolves and bears populate the forest, though it is not easy to see them. The lakes have a dozen of fish species including “tsironi”, a sort of freshwater sardine, and “grivadhi”, a kind of carp. But it is its birdlife which leads the scene and makes Prespa famous. Between one and two thousands pelicans migrate here every spring; the white and Dalmatian pelicans. Prespa hosts the biggest colony of Dalmatian pelicans in the world. On the other hand, cormorants, egrets and crested grebes are easy to be seen as well.
The region has also a rich cultural heritage. Visit the ruins of the Basilica of Agios Achilleios on the big island of small Prespa Lake, which dates back to the Byzantine times and a sixteenth-century monastery, Panayia Porfaras. In Agios Germanos village a parish church resists from the eleventh-century with its frescos inside dating from the time when the place belonged to bishopric of Ohrid. From a point above the village, you have an amazing view of the landscape including the two lakes. Psarades is a fishermen village on great Prespa Lake. You can take a boat trip visiting the hermitages and taking a look at the impressive rock frescoes. But you need to stay on one side of the lake, you can’t cross the borders to fYR of Macedonia and Albania on the lake Then, the beaches are not big but easily accessible. When summer comes, people visit the beaches, finding refreshment in the warm lake water.
Prespa is ideally placed to become a model of sustainable tourism since it has already developed a small level of tourist structures such as hotels; typical taverns where you can taste traditional food and mood; and coffee bars to enjoy Greek coffee and frappe as locals do.
The tourist information offices are in Agios Germanos, Psarades, Vrondero and Pili and the organizations which are working on the sector are CTP (Cultural Triangle of Prespa), SPP (Society for the Protection of Prespa), Prespa National Park Management Body, Ecotourism Society of Prespa and the Municipality of Prespa. CTP has implemented over the last years several projects aiming at: the collaboration of tourism stakeholders; establishment of the Ecotourism Society of Prespa; promotion of a common ecotourism destination with the title “Transnatura”, creation of a cross- border thematic tourism products and training of tourism stakeholders.
Unfortunately tourism has been developed only in a few Prespa villages and the others have not developed yet any tourism attraction or product. At the same time the area is suffering from the competition of sea destinations which are now even more accessible from the closest cities (as Florina and Kastoria) due to the construction of new highways linking to coasts.
AGIOS GERMANOS, 53077, PRESPES, GREECE Tel.30-23850-51332, fax 30-23850-51210, [email protected] , www.ctp.gr , www.transnatura.gr
Tourism here is still a small-scale industry, attracting mostly national tourists for 2-3 days and lacking of interest from young people. Thus, working in the fields cultivating white haricot beans is the main supply. The region is still suffering from isolation; something that started during the Second World War and the Civil War (’46- 49) and made many people migrate and some villages being abandoned (Prespa was an important war-strategic point. Antartiko village, for example, had 3000 people before the wars while now just 100).
In other words, although rich in biodiversity, historical and cultural heritage, Prespa is a complex, troubled region of Greece. But at the same time a richly rewarding community and landscape for those who have the staying-power and motivation to look beneath the surface and persevere in the journey of discovery.
Prespian lights will shine brighter…. see you in Prespa!
For further information please contact us at [email protected]
The CTP team
AGIOS GERMANOS, 53077, PRESPES, GREECE Tel.30-23850-51332, fax 30-23850-51210, [email protected] , www.ctp.gr , www.transnatura.gr