Ioannina

Ioannina is the capital of the Epirus region and the largest city of north-western Greece, set on the western shore of Lake Pamvotis at around 470 metres above sea level. It is a university town with a lively, youthful centre, but its heart is the Kastro, one of the oldest continuously inhabited Byzantine and Ottoman fortresses in the Balkans. Inside the walls, cobbled lanes lead past the Aslan Pasha Mosque and the inner citadel of Its Kale, where the Fethiye Mosque and the tomb of Ali Pasha still stand.

Ali Pasha, the ruthless and cunning Ottoman governor who made Ioannina a near-independent court in the early 19th century, dominates the city's story. In 1822 he was cornered and killed by the Sultan's forces on the small island in the lake, at the Monastery of Agios Panteleimon, where bullet holes in the floorboards are still shown to visitors. The car-free island, reached by a short ferry from the lakefront, is a settlement of monasteries, tavernas and eel and frog dishes drawn from the lake.

The city has been a centre of silver and gold craftsmanship for centuries, a tradition documented in the excellent Silversmithing Museum housed in the western bastion of the castle. Beyond the walls, the lakeside promenade is made for an evening walk, and the surrounding plain hides the Perama Cave, one of the largest and most decorated show-caves in Greece, and the ancient oracle of Dodona, with its beautifully preserved theatre, a short drive to the south.

Ioannina also works as the natural base for the wider region. The stone villages of Zagori, the depths of the Vikos Gorge and the mountain town of Metsovo are all within an easy drive, making the city both a destination in its own right and the gateway to the Epirus highlands. Spring and autumn bring soft light over the water; summer evenings are warm and social; winter can be crisp and misty, wrapping the lake in the melancholy that suits its history.