Highlights: Tzoumerka – Kalarrytes – Melanthon farm – Watermill – Syrrako – Monastery of Kipina – Museum of Contemporary Art – Rafting in Arachthos – Melissourgoi village.

8 days / 7 nights

Depends of the arrival time. If there is time available, then we will organize a trip. Overnight to the hotel.

Goat haircut (01/06-30/06)/ Goat Milking (01/01 – 31/08)/ Traditional cheese-making (01/01 – 31/08)  with the classic traditional method! The result of processing is the production of butter, yoghurt, myzithra, anthotyro, talafouti or galottiri cheese’s.

Optional: Visit with 4×4 car nomadic breeders in mountain peaks (01-10/06 & 15-30/09).

Here we will have lunch served in a tavern owned by the visited local breeders where you can taste cheese pie, hot myzithra cheese and Sheep or lamb meat cooked in non-stick baking paper.

Visit to the “Melanthon” farm which is a family farm that produce rare mountain forest honey and all the related products such as royal jelly, pollen, candle and bee wax ointment. During your visit in the farm you will be informed for many interesting things related to bees and how honey is making! Some of the things you will learn are:

1. The bee cycle, the cell’s philosophy and its function as an organism.
2. Bee products and their medicinal properties.
3. Taste of the honey, pollen, honeycomb, royal jelly, tsipouro etc…
4. Recipes for the preparation of bee wax ointment and how you can use it for medical reasons.

Lunch: Meal at a nearby tavern with traditional local products.

Visit a small watermill with a museum, mantania and water-jetting. There will be a little briefing – tour and then we will have the opportunity to use the watermill by washing some clothes! After the watermill, we will head to the village of Katarraktis to see the imposing twin waterfalls and the monastery of Agia Aikaterini. Continue with a visit of the cave of Anemotripa and a short walk to Pramanta on return to the hotel.

Syrrako with its magnificent architecture is considered one of the most beautiful mountain villages in Greece. The picturesque village has been declared as a traditional settlement. Traders from Syrrako traveled all over Europe, supplying with their traditional capes even Napoleon’s army. Meal. Kalarrytes is the biggest village in Tzoumerka area with the 27 stone arched bridges! The place is also known for the goldsmiths which flourished here in the late 19th century. Kipina Monastery is the most impressive monastery of Epirus which was built in 1212 and seems like it has been perched in the cavity of a tall vertical rock.

Alternatively

1. Hiking from Syrrako to Kalarrytes through the path (1 hour and 15 minutes hiking) that used to communicate the two villages.
2. Or We can also take a very easy 45 minute walk along the Kalarrytes River where we have the chance to see several waterfalls, ponds and two stone bridges.

Return to the hotel.

Museum is located to Hellinikos village. The Museum is a unique sculpture museum in the area, where the factors that shaped the history of Epirus as to the relationship between man and place are depicted. Through his works, the sculptor invites the visitor to see with his own eyes and to perceive the place of Epirus, talking about a centuries-old everyday life, and telling the stories of daily food, bread, and the people of this place. We continue to the stone bridge of Politsa, from where we will start the rafting. After a 15-minute lesson, we cross the spectacular Arachthos canyon (9.2 km) which can only be admired through the river. The route is considered to be the most beautiful in Greece. Return to the hotel.

The hiking will start from Pramanta and through fir trees, springs and many stone fountains will end to the Pramanta shelter (duration is 2 hours). At the foot of the most imposing Tzoumerka mountain where the shelter is we will have a coffee and a light meal. Then we continue to Melissourgoi village. Visit to the workshop theatre of G. Polyzos. Then sculptor has studied and constructed 17 ancient Greek musical instruments as well as many ancient Greek jewelry. Dinner.

The hiking starts from the shelter of Melissourgos or from the Pramanta shelter. The route is through a fir-tree and alpine zone. At the end of the route we encounter two waterfalls with the highest height of 350m. which is the largest in our country.

NOTE: Activities related to agrotourism vary depending on the season