I admit that when I arrived at Limnopoula Camping in Ioannina (Epirus, Greece), I was tired and smelly. Any welcome and comfort would have made me ecstatic. What I was not ready for was the best view in Ioannina: forget all the hotels in town, here you can have a ground level lakeside pitch, close enough to the water for the slightly eggy smell of the lake to fill your nose and for the noise of jumping fish to punctuate your sleep like a curiously soothing and spasmodic metronome.

For just €12 I effectively got the best view in town. In the evening I watched the local kayaking club training. Go there and enjoy the historic town, the lake, the mountains and access to the villages of Epirus.

Some pictures attached on my travel blog:
www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=3Tzut&page_id=100262&v=3J

A few minutes north of the old fort and on the edge of the lake

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The island in the middle of the Lake of Ioannina used to be home to the monastery of Agios Pantelaemon until 17 January 1822, when it gained a permanent place in Greek history and legend.

On that day, Ali Pasha, the legendary Ottoman ruler of Albanian descent was executed, at the monastery, by troops sent by the Sultan, from Constantinople, for the crime of insubordination. Ali Pasha had fled to the island after the defence of Ioannina to the 2-year siege by the Sultan's troops had laid on the city started collapsing.

The Turks promised Ali Pasha amnesty, arrived at the island supposedly to hand him the pardon papers that had arrived from the capital, and killed him. His body was decapitated and later buried next to the Fetihie Mosque, up on the castle of Ioannina. His head was taken to Constantinople, shown to the Sultan and then buried in a local cemetery.

Today, the monastery is a museum that tells the story of that day and of Ali Pasha's Ioannina.

You will also find a restaurant that serves local food, including lake seafood and frog's legs, and various gift shops. Boats leave from the quay in front of the castle every 10 minutes.

Lake island
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Ioannina

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The castle of Ioannina was built in its present state by the legendary Ali Pasha, the Albanian-born, Ottoman governor of Epirus in the early 19th century, on the foundations of the old Byzantine fortifications of Ioannina.

The northeast end of the castle includes the madrassa, or islamic religious school, which today houses a lovely Museum of Weaponry, and the Mosque of Aslan Pasha, which today houses the Museum of the City of Ioannina.

The southeast end is the Its Kale, or Inner Castle, and was the main compound of the Ali Pasha administration and living quarters.

The castle of Ioannina is the core from which the city expanded to its present size, and included all the major civic monument and sites of the city, including the synagogue of the once mighty local Jewish community.

Castro
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City Centre
Ioannina

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Molos means lake front where there is a variety of restaurants and sophisticated bars to choose from. I had enjoyed my first meal there and I kept going back again and again for more of that fresh trout and frog's legs that are delicious but they don't cost the earth! It's a must to visit any of the restaurants along the lake, freshness of ingredients and quality is guaranteed, plus there is a real buzz of Greek life at its best! I love going there in the summer afternoons when the city centre is quiet and all the Greeks go down molos for a long long lunch...

Ioannina
At the bottom end of Molos along the lake.
Prices from €6-€30
Open all day

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