Zagoria

Just finished reading a book by Roy Hounsell called 'The Papas and the Englishman'. What a great read! He and his wife moved to Corfu when he was made redundant and then moved to the Greek mainland in the Zagoria region. They fell in love with the place on a visit to escape the hoards of tourists on Corfu. It tells of how he intergrated into the Greek way of life and plans to run a small hotel from his base in Koukouli.
He writes with great humour and his descriptions are superb when describing a local, or a scenic view. He's pretty hands on and does a lot of renovation on his house himself, but also has help from the local Papas. I feel the relationship between these two were beginning to get a little strained towards the end of the book, as the Papas was also a builder (priests have 2 jobs in Greece) but was sometimes a little 'late' with his helping hands! But that's the Greek life, Avrio never comes.

The Papas sounded like someone I would love to meet. Relaxed but busy and with a gentle humour. Because of this book, I now want to visit Zagoria to see if it is the magical place Roy says it is. Hot Summers and Cold, cold winters...that's how it should be, and with the modern/historical town of Ionnina just around the corner, and the Vikos Gorge on your doorstep, it's sounds like bliss.