Vradeto Steps

The Skala Vradetou is a stone stairway built into the wall of the Mezaria gorge, climbing about 250 metres in a series of tight zigzags between the villages of Kapesovo and Vradeto. Until a road was finally cut in 1973, this was the only access to Vradeto, the highest village in Zagori at about 1,340 metres, and everything, people, animals, timber, salt, went up and down these steps. The path is paved with fitted stone and edged with low walls, and its craftsmanship is remarkable: local masons built it in the eighteenth century and it has needed little repair since. The climb takes forty-five minutes to an hour, and from Vradeto a further path leads to the Beloi viewpoint, a balcony directly opposite Monodendri with the full depth of the Vikos gorge below.

What you actually see

• The zigzag stairway - about 1,200 stone steps up the gorge wall.
• The masonry - eighteenth-century fitted stone paving and retaining walls.
• Vradeto - the highest village in Zagori at the top of the climb.
• The Beloi viewpoint - a cliff balcony over the Vikos gorge beyond the village.

When to go

Spring and autumn; the steps are exposed and hot in summer afternoons. Ice makes them dangerous in winter. Early morning is best for the climb and for light in the gorge.

Honest expectations

The ascent is steady and steep, and the stone can be slippery when damp. There are no facilities at either end beyond a taverna in each village. Most people walk up and return the same way, or arrange a car at the top.

Nearby

Kapesovo and Monodendri lie below; the Beloi viewpoint is a twenty-minute walk from Vradeto.