Ioannina Things to Do Tips by JLBG Top 5 Page for this destination

Landscape on Limni Pamvotis and Nisaki Kyra Frosyn Lake and island Review

These photos were taken from the small road leading from Ioanina to Longades and overlooking the lake.

The first photo shows Ioanina in the background, the northern tip of the island with its hamlet in the middle and in the foreground, marshes that are home to plenty of birds, fishes and frogs.

The second photo is a close up.

The third photo is even closer and shows the boats that makes the connection between the island and the city

Trip to Nisaki Kyra Frosyni Lake and island Review

Small boats propose trips to Nisaki Kyra Frosyni (islet of Kyra Frosyni), shorten as “Nisaki”, (little island) by locals. Departures are every 30 minutes from 6:30 AM to midnight. The trip is about 12 minutes.

Living on the island is a privilege and nobody can establish other than the families that have always lived there. They own the restaurants and shops for tourists but are also fishermen.

In the busy restaurants, you will find plenty of sea-food, sorry, lake-food : freshly caught fish, mainly eel and carp, bathrakos (frogs), karabedi (cray fish) and others.

Several Monasteries stand on the island.
One of these is the Monastery of the Prodhromos (St. John the Baptist) to the east of the little island hamlet. Its most ancient parts (13C) are the katholikon and the east aisle. It was restored in the 16th and its the 18th frescoes in the 19th.
Ali Pasha was killed on 17 January 1822 in neighboring Monastery of Pantaleimon, dating from the 16th.
Another monastery is Monastery of Agios Nikolaos Philanthropenon.

The whole island is registered by the Greek Archeological Service as a place of archeological significance.

Limni Pamvotis Lake and island Review

Ioannina stands on the western shore of Limni Pamvotis (Lake Pamvotis), a large body of water, l0-ll km long, average 3km across and covers an area of approximately 23 km2. It is a shallow lake with reedy shores and maximum depth is 8 m, mean depth, 5 m. Commercial fishermen are over 50. They catch carp, tench, barbus and eel. Most of them live on the small island in front of Ioanina. Some of these fishes are also grown in fisheries in what is named Lapista lake, actually, the northern part of Pamvotis.

The old town Castle/Old town Review

For centuries, Ioanina, Tepelene, Berat, Gjirokaster and all that area lived under the same rule and had a mixed population speaking Greek and Albanian. Since southern Epire and Ioaninna are part of Greece (1913), this is not true anymore but the narrow cobbled streets have kept almost the same look that can be found in northern Epire, in Albania.

The madrassa Castle/Old town Review

A hundred meters away from Aslan Pasha mosque, the madrassa was an Islamic school. It is now the Ioannina museum of Popular Art. We were short of time and did not visit it but I have read that it had interesting Epire artifacts. The building itself is a nice piece of architecture.

Fethiye dzami Castle/Old town Review

Fethiye dzami (Fethiye mosque) stands just outside the walls of the kastro. This small, square building with several domes covered with rough slates looks like the tekke we had seen in Berat, in Albania, only 130 km away, as the crow flies. It was actually built as the metropolitan church of the Taxiarches and later converted into a mosque. It is now a museum of Weaponry.

Aslan pasha dzami. Castle/Old town Review

Aslan pasha dzami (Aslan pasha mosque) was built on the former location of the church of Agios Ioannis Prodromos (Saint John the Baptist) in 1618 by Commander Aslan Zulfikar, named the Good Pasha. The mosque was named after him to honor his memory. The mosque was converted into the Museum of the City of Ioannina in 1933.

The Kastro and Aslan pasha dzami Castle/Old town Review

Aslan pasha dzami (Aslan mosque) is the landmark of Ioannina and stands inside the kastro (castle). On the photo, the minaret stands in the background.

Famous Ali Pasha of Tepelene (now in Albania) was the Pasha of Epirus at the beginning of the 19th. He built the castle on the ruins of the Byzantine fort. He was famous for his ferocity and was nicknamed either Ali the Lion or Ali the ax as he used to kill enemies or prisoners with a blow of his ax. A nice guy!