This watermill is situated at Baptistis village in North Tzoumerka, at a site called ‘Moutsiara’ at an altitude of 950m. Along with the watermill there is a single-arch bridge over the stream flowing into the Kalaritikos river. The watermill can be accessed from the entrance to the village. Nearby lies St. John’s full mill. The watermill is in a good condition and accessible from the main road. Visitors can enjoy the stream and its natural surroundings.
In the mountainous massif of the Tzoumerka range, where agriculture and animal husbandry are combined with cottage industry, there is a network of water-powered installations. Some of them operate privately and some belong to the community. There are also some ‘vakoufia’ (waqf), i.e., belonging to monasteries. Today, few of them are standing and in some villages they are out of use. In some cases, they have been restored or constructed at the site they used to stand, in the context of tourist attractions reflecting the cottage-industry buildings of Tzoumerka region.
Mountain tourism aficionados love Syrrako and Kalarites. These two villages of North Tzoumerka combine stone houses and unique natural surroundings with grazing fields. Syrrako is impressive due to its architecture. All houses are built using white and black schist from this mountainous local region, worked with excellent craftsmanship. Wandering through the village visitors can also see the well-preserved threshing floors and local inhabitants’ sheds. The entire historic village was rebuilt by residents, mostly emigrants, or their descendants and it is presented like a period cinema set. Equally impressive are the slopes of the Arachthos river slopes, steeply reaching the riverbed. These natural formations led locals to cultivate fields on terraces. The dry walls on mountain slopes hold the earth on these small farming land lots wherever there are hamlets at a high altitude. Terraces are an integral part of the identity of such sites, particularly interesting from the viewpoint of cultural ecology.
Village residents usually live on site in the spring and summer. In the winter there are few inhabitants who maintain welcoming taverns near the church of St. Nicolas.
Syrrako has two folk museums. The home of poet and novelist Kostas Krystallis, which has become a folk museum and library and preserves all the household items and equipment of its time, as well as poet’s memorabilia. It also holds authentic cheese-making and weaving equipment. The mansion of Ermineia Photiadou has also been turned into a folk museum, exhibiting 150-year-old valuable items. It is a genuine home of the era when commerce and animal husbandry flourished in the locality. The museum presents exhibits of furniture, needlework and embroidery, woven items, folk costumes, household utensils and photographs.
Admission to Kostas Krystallis and Ermineia Photiadou Museums is free. For information about the museums, please, call: +30-26510-38490.
The watermill and Bridge at Kouiassa belong to the community of Kalarites, at an altitude of 807m, in the Chroussias river valley. The site is accessible along the route to Kalarites. The trip is about 15 minutes on foot. After the iron bridge before reaching Kalarites, there is a sign on the left pointing to the stone bridge of Kouiassa and the old stone watermill. The footpath starts at the steps on the right, and the stairs to Kalarites will bring you to the quaint village. The route continues straight on and soon you’ll see ahead the beautiful watermill and the impressive waterfall; they start from the springs below Kalarites and fall into the Chroussias river. The location is one of rare beauty and unique sounds of nature.
The name Kouiassa means ‘shady location’. The bridge has a single arch spanning 5.40m, and up to 18m high. On the trunk of one of the bridge-supports there is a smaller arch that lightens the construction (relieving arch) and allows the water to flow faster in case of flooding.
The watermill is hidden in the forest and looks like a fairy tale background. At the site of the watermill, from the summer months to November, a traditional coffee-shop operates that also serves meals. The café serves home-made lemonade and hand-make ekmek, a sweet made with shredded wheat and patisserie cream.
There are picnic facilities on the site and bold visitors refresh themselves in the crystal- clean fresh waters of the Kalaritikos river. The footpath is of moderate difficulty. It is 1km long and at some points there are stone-steps, and it takes about 15-20 minutes to cover it. The bridge is about 6-7 minutes’ walk from the watermill.
The watermill and Bridge at Kouiassa belong to the community of Kalarites, at an altitude of 807m, in the Chroussias river valley. The site is accessible along the route to Kalarites. The trip is about 15 minutes on foot. After the iron bridge before reaching Kalarites, there is a sign on the left pointing to the stone bridge of Kouiassa and the old stone watermill. The footpath starts at the steps on the right, and the stairs to Kalarites will bring you to the quaint village. The route continues straight on and soon you’ll see ahead the beautiful watermill and the impressive waterfall; they start from the springs below Kalarites and fall into the Chroussias river. The location is one of rare beauty and unique sounds of nature.
The name Kouiassa means ‘shady location’. The bridge has a single arch spanning 5.40m, and up to 18m high. On the trunk of one of the bridge-supports there is a smaller arch that lightens the construction (relieving arch) and allows the water to flow faster in case of flooding.
The watermill is hidden in the forest and looks like a fairy tale background. At the site of the watermill, from the summer months to November, a traditional coffee-shop operates that also serves meals. The café serves home-made lemonade and hand-make ekmek, a sweet made with shredded wheat and patisserie cream.
There are picnic facilities on the site and bold visitors refresh themselves in the crystal- clean fresh waters of the Kalaritikos river. The footpath is of moderate difficulty. It is 1km long and at some points there are stone-steps, and it takes about 15-20 minutes to cover it. The bridge is about 6-7 minutes’ walk from the watermill.
A visit to Kalarites must include a tour of the Silversmithing Museum, housed in the stone building of the old primary school in the heart of the village. Outstanding goldsmiths originate from this hamlet, the most famous of whom is Vulgaris (Bulgari).
The exhibition presents the tools and equipment used in traditional silversmithing and the relevant technology as it developed through time. Visitors are impressed with the silversmithing end-products, truly reflecting local craftsmanship. Exhibits span the period from the 18th to the 20th centuries.
There are two parts to the exhibition: The exhibits of the first hall are various devices used to process metal, along with their accessories and silversmiths’ tools. Those of the second hall are end-products made by local silversmiths. Items exhibited include household utensils and decorative objects, jewellery made with thin wire, cast or manufactured using the niello (savati) technique, accessories of local traditional costumes, personal items and tobacco aficionado items, church utensils, etc.
Kalarites is situated at the edge of a sheer cliff at an altitude of 1200m, with the Kalarytikos river flowing below. Within the hamlet, there are wonderful mansions and quaint cobblestone lanes, arched bridges, wonderfully adorned fountains, all of them excellently crafted, reflecting local folk architecture. The feasts of the area are many and always entail music and dancing. The four basic musical instruments are the clarinet (klarino), the fiddle, the lute, and the tambourine. Music, singing, and dancing are integral parts of mountain life and people’s vocations. Main festivities and reunion events (andamomata) are held on:
Zoodochos Pigi feast (the Friday of the Bright week) after Easter at Kipina
Agia Paraskevi feast (26 July)
The Assumption of the Virgin at St. Nicolas Church (15 August)
St. Nicolas feast (6 December)
National Holiday: The first weekend of July, every year there is a two-day event of “Memory, Tribute and Gratitude”
At Matsouki village, on the Mouria river, stands the village watermill. Along with the fulling and the dristela, the artificial waterfall, the mill is part of the Agia Paraskevi church complex. On the ground floor there is the stone watermill with its schist slate roof. Inside, there is a small room on the north-east side where the miller lived. There used to be a covered area for loading and unloading animals, which is now destroyed. Under the mill floor there is a visible arch where the waterwheel is housed. The river water was channelled in a ditch, pushed the waterwheel, which, in turn, drove the smooth circular movement of the grinding stone at a steady rotation frequency. The grinding stones were round, placed one on top of the other. Cereal grain was placed in-between the stones and ground.
The watermill has been restored to its initial form and visitors can see the two grinding stones and the wooden cases, where various grains (wheat, maize, barley) to be ground were placed, as well as the coarse salt used to be mixed with the sheep feed. The mantani, the full mill, was a water-powered installation for processing woollen cloth. The water flowed along the ditch and driven into an upward wooden pipe; the pressure created set the waterwheel placed vertically in motion and activated four wooden arms. These, moving in succession, beat the cloth spread on a thick plank, 2m long and 80cm wide.
The mantani is still used today. The dristela, with its wooden staves is at the front, close to the full mill. A wooden channel, almost vertical, and at a height of 3.40m, sent the water to the dristela and the whirlpool created washed the cloth to soften its texture. These artificial waterfalls were used for cleaning and processing woven woollen items.
Matsouki is a village of stone houses amidst fir trees with hospitable inhabitants. It is one of the Vlach-speaking villages of the Tzoumerka range, with a rich tradition and exceptional examples of traditional architecture, namely bridges, watermills and threshing floors, as well as the impressive Holy Monastery of Vyliza. There are three associations in the village that organise and participate in local cultural events.
The Matsouki museum has an exceptional collection of 58 post-Byzantine icons exhibited in a single hall. They were painted in the 15th century by major icon painters in the Cretan and Ionian styles, as well as by anonymous, naïf icon-painters from Epirus.
A stone monastery looming at an altitude of 1000 metres in North Tzoumerka. According to tradition it was built in the 11th century. The oldest written evidence of Vyliza, however, is the icon of St. John the Baptist, recording the year 1676. The unique Holy Monastery of Vyliza, dedicated to the Annunciation of Mother Mary, is situated between the villages of Kalarites and Matsuki, at the edge of the cliff, where three rivers can be heard flowing in the ravines below until they all flow into the Arachthos river.
Access to the Monastery is through the village of Matsouki. Visitors have to park at the village and walk a rough 1.5km footpath with steps to reach the Holy Monastery of Vyliza. The impressive feature along the ascent are the battlements along the monastery wall.
The Holy Monastery of Vyliza has played an important role in the history of Greece. Its rich library owns 14 manuscripts that are kept at the Greek National Library. The oldest manuscript is that from Iviron Monastery on Mt. Athos; it was written in 1350 and contains 1,100 pages. The monastery flourished because of the commercial value of animal husbandry products and wool, in particular.
The monastery architectural style is unusual. The building seen today is post-Byzantine. The Katholikon is a single-space church with a narthex that ends in a five-sided arch. The monastery was renovated in 1783 and still maintains several cells. In the monastery courtyard there is another church dedicated to St. John the Baptist. This second church is decorated with murals made in 1737 by blood-brothers Georgios and Stergios from the nearby village of Kalarites. There is also a gold-leaf wooden iconostasis with wonderful icons.
The monastery was deserted in 1893 and is well past its prime. Today it is a dependency of the Holy Monastery of Kato Panagia, Arta. Its restoration started in 1981. Although there are no monks, the monastery is always open and welcoming to pilgrims and visitors.
The Holy Monastery of Kipina (Mother Mary of the Gardens) is impressive and makes visitors feel awe at the mere sight of its position. It stands on a craggy rock in North Tzoumerka, near the village of Kalarites.
In 1212, a monk, brother Gregorios, started building the monastery and dedicated it to the Assumption of the Virgin. The name was given to the monastery because of the gardens tended by the monks. The monastery was in its prime during the 18th century and its monks were known for their social work. During the Ottoman period, according to tradition, the monastery was also used as a ‘secret’ school, and the cave in the rock was used as a refuge by local residents. In the 19th century the monastery was deserted and in 1931 it became a dependency of the Monastery of Tsouka.
The asphalt road ends at the base of the rock and from then on visitors can get to the monastery climbing the foot path ‘carved’ on the rock. After the footpath there is a wooden bridge. The path follows the rock slope and the movable ‘suspended’ bridge is just before the entrance. It is let down so people can have access to the monastery.
The small chapel of the monastery is full of icons, probably painted during the 17th century. The roof is the solid rock above the monastery, which has been craftly carved to create a perfect dome. The monastery chapel is also under the natural rock roof. The gold-leaf wooden temple and the icons by Ioannis from Sagiada are works of the 18th century. The monastery cells have been renovated and have wooden extensions, creating an excellent architectural complex at two levels, in full harmony with the rock.
The feast day of the monastery is the Friday of the Bright Week, after Easter, on the day of the Mother of God of the Life-giving Spring (Zoodochos Pigi).
Visitors are admitted to the Holy Monastery of Kipina from 8:30 in the morning till sunset. The monastery is small and quite unusual due to its location. Visiting and guided tours are arranged with the guide at the village, who has the key. The contact number for information about masses held at the Monastery is +30-26590-61186.
Katsantonis is a well-known hero. He travelled from the Agrafa Range to the Tzoumerka Range, where his mother lived (community of Petrovouni). On his way to his mother’s home, Katsantonis was sick and was arrested by the Ottomans. He hid in various places of the mountain. This hero before the actual war of independence of 1821 remained in the cave of Epirus until he was arrested by the Ottomans in August 1808. After his humiliating arrest, along with his brother, in the cave, he was brought before Ali Pasha at Ioannina and became a symbol of sacrifice and heroism at the altar of the longed-for freedom.
Today, on a small stone wall at the cave, there is a marble plaque bearing a photograph of Katsantonis and an inscription under it, saying: ‘BATTLE OF THE CAVE – KATSANTONIS ΤΑΚΕΝ PRISONER – AUGUST 1808’.
