IOANNINA
Whether you're headed to Igoumenitsa to fetch yourself a ferry, or you need to rest before heading up north to Albania, Ioannina makes for the perfect pit stop location. It is the very definition of transition with its cultural ambiguity that melts the Balkan boundaries in a way which makes you truly ethnically confused. Byzantine and Ottoman heritage backdrop the vivid bar scenery hosting faces so different and yet so close to each other in terms of habits. A quick coffee with a friend to debate the latest and greatest gossip, a game of backgammon to test the luck and cunningness of a neighbour, an ouzo or raki to lift the spirits - all those little pleasures that bond the souls and warm the hearts are so universally Balkan and deeply rooted in centuries of tradition that I doubt anyone can say where it all started... although you can definitely expect many a heavily argumented dispute over the subject! Call it as you wish - keyif, кеф, κέφι, qejf, the art of enjoying is the air and water of the lakeshore town, so drop by and well... enjoy!
