Papingo

Megalo and Mikro Papingo sit at the northwestern edge of Zagori beneath the Astraka towers, sheer grey walls that rise more than a thousand metres above the roofs and catch the last light in a way that has made them the emblem of the region. The villages are built entirely of local grey stone, slate roofs and cobbled lanes, and were among the first in Zagori to be restored as guesthouses, which saved the architecture and made Papingo the busiest base in the area. Above Mikro Papingo the ovires, natural rock pools in the Rogovo stream, hold cold clear water for summer swimming. The main mountain route climbs from here to the Astraka refuge at 1,950 metres, then on to Drakolimni, the dragon lake, where alpine newts live in the water below Gamila.

History

Papingo is first mentioned in a bull of the Byzantine emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos of 1325, and in 1399 the Greeks of Zagori and Papingo joined Esau, Despot of Epirus, in his campaign against Albanian and Aromanian tribes. The village prospered from the 15th to the 17th centuries thanks to the privileges Zagori won from the Ottoman sultan, and in the 17th and 18th centuries local folk healers, the Vikos doctors, treated illness with herbs from the gorge (Wikipedia, Papingo).

The main sights

• The Astraka towers - vertical limestone walls above the villages.
• The ovires pools - rock basins in the stream above Mikro Papingo.
• The stone villages - slate roofs, cobbled lanes and restored mansions.
• The Drakolimni route - the classic climb to the refuge and the alpine lake.

When to go

Late May to October for walking; the Drakolimni route needs a clear, long day and is snowbound into June some years. Winter turns Papingo into a fireside destination with occasional road closures.

Practical notes

Papingo is the most visited corner of Zagori and books out on weekends and holidays, with prices to match. The road in is narrow and slow. The walk to Drakolimni is a full mountain day of six to eight hours round trip, not a stroll.

Nearby

Vikos gorge ends below the villages; Monodendri and the other Zagori villages lie east.

Key facts