Parga

The pleasant Parga is often said to be the jewel of the towns in the Greek mainland. And it is an incredibly beautiful town - the perfect spot by the sea, the picturesque and amphitheatrical houses, and the lovely surroundings are qualities that are hard to ignore. Parga lies in the most western province of Greece - Epirus, and the town has about 2400 inhabitants. One should note that Epirus has a long and interesting story, which makes it fascinating to explore the entire area.

Numerous beaches, bays and little islands lie along the long and beautiful coast and Parga has received its' fair share of both good beaches and historical sights. To use Parga as a base and all of Epirus as place to discover is surely something to get one's teeth into. Few Greek destinations can compete with the diversity offered here.

Getting there
The simplest way is off course to buy a charter trip directly to Parga, but it is almost as smooth to fly there on your own and find a place to stay - on the spot or by booking in advance. The plane lands at the airport called Aktion, located in Preveza 68 kilometres (42 miles) south of Parga. The transfer into town takes a little more than an hour.

Getting around
If you stay near Parga town a bathing boat will get you pretty far, but if you wish to experience the beautiful surroundings of Parga, a rental is to prefer. I can also recommend an organised outing, especially the one to Meteora.

Beaches
Almost everyone that travels to Parga prefer the close by beaches: Krioneri, Valtos and Lichnos, and quite understandably so since they all are good and within close reach. What many fail to notice however is that there are beautiful beaches not far from Parga, I am thinking firstly of Amoudia (south of Parga) and Agia Paraskevi and Karavostasi (north of Parga). These beaches and many others are reviewed in our Parga guides (Swedish only).

Krioneri beach
Town beach or the village beach as we Swedes say, lie in the middle of the village, just as its name implies. Very practical, you hardly have to change clothes. The tavernas are all near by and if you grow tired of swimming and sunshine just pick up your wallet and go for a round of shopping.

Lichnos beach
The beautiful sand beach of Lichnos, 3.5 kilometres (2.2 miles) south of Parga, is my absolute favourite beach in the area. This long beach is mostly out of coarse-grained sand that shifts from shiny white to golden yellow. This perfect sand is soft, formable, and just coarse enough to lie still - it will not fly into your eyes.

Valtos beach
To the right of the Venetian fortress, Valtos beach spreads out as a necklace made of white coral. Valtos is in the eyes of many the best beach of Parga - it has beautiful surroundings, it is very long, there is room for everyone and it is within a walking distance.
From its spot on the rock between Parga town and Valtos beach the old Venetian fortress keep watch over the sea and the land. Today most of the houses lie in ruins, there is not much to see of the actual Castro, but a visit is necessary -the magnificent view over Parga and the Valtos bay is enchanting. There is a small café in the lower parts of the fortress.

Sights
This is just a fraction of the sights. In our Parga guides (Swedish only) you will find reviews of Agia Eleni, Necromanteion, the national park Zagori with its unique villages and the alp-like village Metsovo.

The fort of Ali Pasha
In a verdant longish valley, about three kilometres (1.9 miles) north of Parga lie the little village Anthousa. To get to the fort you pass Anthousa and then turn left to the village Trikorfo. Forts like this are usually not much to see, the view is often more impressive than the building itself. The fort of Ali Pasha however, is an exception. Large parts of the interiors are in a surprisingly good shape, the solid walls are impressive and there are some remaining canons aiming for Parga town in the upper courtyard.

The river Styx and the Gliki ravine
To get to the river you drive towards the little village Gliki, Styx runs right through the village so you cannot miss it. It is preferable to take the road on the right hand side of the village. After a few minutes you will reach a parking lot, park the car here, change to water proof shoes or sandals and put on some kind of bathing outfit. How far up the river you can go depends on the time of the year, we walked for about an hour before it got too deep and we had to give up. It does not get more any more beautiful than this.

You will not only get a dose of the spectacular nature, it is also horribly exciting. Cold water rush down the mountain pockets, the current can be so strong that you have to take several steps back, and sometimes you stumble down a hole or slide down the slippery stones. You have to hold on tight to your camera.

You can take a breather at one of the tavernas when you get back to the parking lot. If you do not want to go up the river, you at least have to dip your feet in the cool water. Do not let the icy coldness scare you, it will get warmer the further up you go.

It was in the river Styx (according to the legend) that the river goddess Thetis dipped her newborn baby Achilles to make him invulnerable. She held him around his heel, which did not touch the water and became his only vulnerability - therefore the expression Achilles' heel. In Greek mythology, Styx is also the name of one of the rivers in the underworld Hades. It is often described as the border between the kingdom of the living and the dead.

Meteora
It is one thing to see pictures of Meteora, they are certainly spectacular, but to see the monastery complex in real life is something completely different. Your mind is in a whirl, the intellect says one thing - Meteora is for real, but this place is so unlikely that is hard to actually believe in its existence. I have travelled to many countries and seen my fair share of more or less strange places, but nothing even gets close to Meteora.

The area consists of several dark grey sandstone rocks, shaped like sugar-loaves and looking like they are ready to set off for the moon. The debate of how these weird fascinating rock formations came to be has been going on for a long time, but the Meteora is still a geological mystery. An even greater mystery is how they managed to build monasteries on the top of the rocks. Of the 22 monasteries once active in Meteora, only six are still running today. You can visit them all on your own, but I strongly recommend a guided tour, then you do not have to be taken aback and leave with a hundred questions on your mind. We took a tour offered by Synthesis travel and their outing was priceless or at least worth the double. We visited the monastery Megalo Meteora (Great Meteora) and the convent Agios Stefanos, the other four are all monasteries: Agios Nikolaos, Varlaam, Rousanou and Agias Triadas. If you are lucky you will get Kristina as your guide and Napoleon as your driver, it does not get any better than that.

Accommodation
If you are on a charter trip, which most people are, you will usually stay somewhere in the upper parts of the village, by Valtos beach or south of Krioneri beach. What suites you the best is a matter of taste. If you travel on your own you will soon find out that there fewer options than on the islands, the travel agencies have reserved a great deal of the rooms. Nevertheless, unless you come here in July or august it should not be a problem.
I went to Parga on my own and booked a room on the internet. I stayed at Petros studios just 50 metres from the harbour promenade and with some view over the sea. Good standard and nice owners, Petros and Irini. Observe that not all rooms has a view over the ocean, some rooms do not even have a view.

Telephone: +30 26840-32029
E-mail: papfamily@pre.forthnet.gr

-
© 1997 - 2006 Janne Eklund / KALIMERA