It is always a pleasure for me to ride in the area of Epirus, and as I wanted to get away from the hot and crowded beaches of Halkidiki, I grabbed the chance for a day tour to the mountains around Valia Calda National Park and Zagori area.

The new “Egnatia Odos” is boring, but takes you near to great places in half the time and safer than few years ago, so in about 1h 20min I passed Grevena and took the old Grevena – Milia – Metsovo road, which is great for motorcycles, as it is freshly paved (most of it) and has almost no traffic at all!

After refuelling in Krania, I turned North and rode 8 fantastic kms next to National Park borders to Mikrolivado – a tiny quiet village into the forest ( there is a nice guest house in case you want to stay here).
From here, I wanted to get to Perivoli, so I followed the signs, hoping that the road would be paved…Well, it was not…The 12km road is not hard to ride (in the summer) – you can even pass with a street bike, but the gravel, rocks and stones might cause you trouble with your tyres…

Back on the paved road again, I turned left towards Perivoli, but I could not resist to a small detour: I continued strait to Avdela, a nice mountain village with a big square and a spring under a huge tree. The 6 km to the village are full of nice curves in a great scenery!
Back on the road to Perivoli, which is also very nice I was not able to enjoy it due to the large number of cows on and around the road…

Perivoli is located at an altitude of 1250m and it is another nice village, away from the mass tourism routes, with friendly people and great food…
The road climbs up to 1500m, crossing some alpine fields with nice curves but also a lot of potholes – I also did a couple of small jumps as I was paying more attention to the views and not the road….
Then one of my favourite routes…The road starts descenting into a thick forest with 10km of non-stop curves, turns and hairpins to Vovousa…

The highlight at Vovousa is of course the river and the stone bridge.
From Vovousa the road climbs up again to Flambourari, but I was disappointed as the road was not repaired after the hard winter: It was full of potholes and big cracks, along with some completely destroyed parts, demanding all your attention…
A positive thing is that at last there are many road signs, not only to the villages but to local attractions (monasteries, bridges) as well. This way it is possible that you could find the small pond with the waterlillies in the photos…

Thanasis

I love to ride and I love to explore the small villages, hidden attractions and forgotten roads of mainland Greece. I will be more than happy to share my knowledge and show you all these magnificent places!

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