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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The museum organizes temporary exhibitions and lectures open to the public. The permanent exhibition includes collections of finds from Palaeolithic sites (Kokkinopelos, Asprochaliko, Kastritsa), from the excavations at Dodona (sanctuary, theatre etc.), the Oracle of the Dead at the river Acheron, Vitsa (settlement and cemeteries), Votonosi, Katamache and Stephane; finds from the excavations at the University Campus of Dhouroute (graves) Merope-Palaiopyrgos in the Pogoni area (tumuli), and Michalitsi; also, a collection of coins, and many other finds from various sites in Epirus.

It also includes a marble sarcophagus from Ladochori (district of Thesprotia). The relief decoration on the walls depicts scenes from the Iliad and the lid has the shape of a funeral bed with the reclining figures of the dead couple. Dated to the 2nd century A.D.

6, 25th Martiou Square, Ioannina
45221
Tel: +30-236510-33357, 25490
Fax: +30-236510-22.595
Special ticketing package for the Archaeological and the Byzantine Museum
of Ioannina: € 4 (reduced: € 2).

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