Igoumenitsa

Arrived at Igoumentisa around 10am and docked. This is a coastal city in Northwestern Greece near the Albanian border. It is a busy car ferry port with a population around 11,000. A mostly sunny day with temperatures up to 23C later. Our tour commenced at 10:15am with 24 of us and our guide was Nina. A scenic bus ride through the mountains towards our first destination. This part of Greece supplies about 75% of the country’s meat which was evident by the number of sheep and cows in the fields. Also quite a few arrays of solar panels which we had also observed on previous tours. At the top of a hill above a village we debarked the bus to visit the ancient site of the Nekromanteio of Aphyra. This is the supposed site of the only known ancient Greek oracle of the dead. There are the ruins of an old 18th century monastery and the chamber of the oracle is below this. We found stairs leading down into a 72 ft sq subterranean chamber which dates back to 3 or 4th century BC. Climbed down inside to observe the small chamber with it’s uneven flooring. This was is where visitors came to communicate with the dead and they often stayed down here for several days. We returned to daylight and explored the rest of the site before walking back down to the village to meet our bus. In the village we passed quite a few pomelo and orange trees in the gardens. Our next destination was the seaside town of Parga about 20 minutes away. We came down the hill into the picturesque bay with the town along the water front. It is overlooked by a 15th century Venetian castle, high on the hill. Walked along the promenade and stopped a a local tavern for snacks and a drink. Free time allowed us wander and slowly make our way back to the bus. From here it was another 45 minutes to return to the dock side, arriving at 2:15pm.