Skip the islands, visit the greek mountains

When you see picture of Greece promoting tourism, you’ll often see Santorini’s white buildings with blue water in the background. Many visit the 227 inhabited Greek islands, but don’t sleep on the Greek mountains. Along the Albania border are the Pindus Mountain worth visiting. Tucked away are villages made from stone and ancient monasteries. With a canyon and one of Europe’s coldest rivers, there’s much to explore. Exploring the mountains for five days, here’s our itinerary.

Renting a car from Sixt in Athens, we drove over five hours to the Pindus Mountains stopping in ancient Corinth for lunch. (Reading the Bible, it was interesting to visit the city that inspired 1 and 2 Corinthians. Other than that, there isn’t a plethora of things to see, so a few-hours-visit is recommended.) The roads were easy to navigate but be prepared to stop often to pay the tolls. Every toll accepted credit card and usually charge a few euros, but it adds up.

Once in the mountains, we checked into Kores Boutique Hotel & Spa for two nights. The small hotel comes with breakfast, an indoor pool, a spa, and views of the mountains. Nearby is στα ριζά, a restaurant with views that served us the best wine and mushroom dishes while in the mountains.

On our two days in the mountains, we booked a canyoning trip and white river rafting through Alpine Zone. While rafting was calm and geared more toward kids, canyoning was a challenge for the whole family. It gave us adventure and beautiful views! After canyoning, we stopped by Papingo Rock Pools, ancient natural pools and explored the quaint stone village of Mikro Papigko.

On the last day, we checked out of the hotel driving toward Meteora, the famous monasteries built into cliffs. On the drive, we stopped at Ioannina, an ancient lakeside town with mountain views. Here, we wandered the Ioannina Castle, walked the city’s cobblestone streets, shopped for silver, ate gyro at Kandavlos, and found street art. Next, we stopped at Imperator Winery, an award-winning winery in an old monastery. If you are a fan of wine, prioritize this stop. Their white wine especially is quality and unique. (They only sell it at the winery.)

Once at Meteora, we checked into Divani Meteora Hotel, a large hotel with cliff views, breakfast, and two pools. Staying one night, we dined at Meteoron Panorama, a family-owned restaurant with views of the cliffs and the best mushroom soup.

If you’re able, hike up to Monastery of the Holy Trinity, one of the monasteries with sweeping views of the region. Bring cash as it’s five euros to go inside the monastery. Afterwards, hike down to Holy Church of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, an 11th century Byzantine church with ornate paintings inside.