Shopping at IKEA and visit Dance of Zalongo

Ioannina

Even if we had a full car with stuff for the boat, we had a long list of things we wanted to buy here. And I found an IKEA shop in Ioannina, about one hour drive from the marina. We don`t have IKEA nearby at home, so it is not often we visiting this shop.

We bought a lot at IKEA and close to IKEA there was a big supermarket we also had to visit.. more shopping… After shopping I wanted to check out the city of Ioannina. It is quite a big city and it seemed like everyone had a day of, even if it is not easter here in Greece.

We parked right by the castle. I thought inside it was the old town with shops and restaurants, but it was`nt like that. All the restaurants were outside the walls. We found a nice place to have lunch and look at all the people walking by.

Ioannina is inside the country by a huge lake, and the view is amazing with the snow on the mountains.

***

Dance of Zalongo

On the way back to the marina I had a plan to stop at the monument “Dance of Zalongo”. It has a really sad history so I felt sad when I came to the top.

Back in 1803 it was a Greek war going on. To avoid rape and enslavement the woman took their children and throw them off this steep cliff and the women jump after one by one, while they where singing and dancing. They where 60 women and child…

You can read more about the history here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monument_of_Zalongo

The parking is in the front of the monastery

It was 410 steps to the top, but it was an amazing hike. And I walked the steps in memory of every woman and child who had to escape

***

***

On the top is this beautiful monument of 6 women and child holding hands.

From the other side. We tried to film with the drone, but unfortunately it had low battery (like my phone)

and what an amzing view!

You can see the archaeological site of Cassope from the monument. At this point it was closed so we could`nt go inside there.

***

If you walk behind the monument there is a small path to a church, (sorry, on the map the name is only in Greek letters…)

When they build this one people where small….

I took a photo through the door, the church was closed

***

step by step…

***

***

And a lot of beatiful flowers!

And… when we came back to the boat with all the stuff we continued the cleaning!