Things To Do in Metsovo

The village is renowned for its Alpine-style architecture -- stone buildings with wooden balconies and slate roofs. Disneyland it ain't, but don't go to Metsovo thinking you're the first to come upon an undiscovered village -- there's even a fairly ambitious conference center in town. To get some advance views of Metsovo, Google it and you'll find lots of photos posted.

Crafts -- weaving, embroidery, and woodwork -- are on display in many shops along the main street. Some is touristy kitsch, but some is authentically local and handsome. The best can be found at Metsovo Folk Art Cooperative, about 50m (164 ft.) from the Egnatia Hotel on the slope above it. Also representing the true Metsovo is the little church of Ayia Paraskevi on the main square, with its carved-wood altar screen, silver chandeliers, and copies of Ravenna mosaics.

The Museum of Folk Art is in the Arhondiko Tossizza (sometimes spelled Tositsa), a 17th-century mansion completely restored by Baron Michalis Tossizza, a wealthy Vlach living in Switzerland. With its paneled rooms, furniture, rugs, clothing, and crafts, it's a superb example of how a prosperous family might once have lived in Epirus. The museum, located on a road above the main street, is open Friday through Wednesday 8:30am to 1pm and 4 to 6pm in the summer, but hours are limited to 3 to 5pm only in the off season. Admission is 3€.

An unexpected and unusual attraction in Metsovo is the Averoff Museum of Neohellenic Art, founded in 1988 by a wealthy and prominent member of the town's premier Vlach family, Evangelos Averoff-Tossizza. The museum has a fine selection of Greek paintings, sculpture, and prints from the 19th and 20th centuries, housed in a building erected for it (and located behind the Town Hall above the main street -- it's signposted). Hours are Wednesday through Monday 10am to 6:30pm July 15 to September 14, and 10am to 4pm September 15 to July 14. Admission is 3€ for adults, 2€ for students; children 9 and under admitted free.

A Special Monastery

Some of the most memorable experiences in Greece come not from visiting major sites but from remote, unexpected encounters. There's one outside Metsovo -- the restored 14th-century Moni Ayios Nikolaos -- that rewards a little extra effort. It's not just that the church contains some spectacular 18th-century frescoes (lost to sight until the 1950s), a fine iconostasis, and some icons. It's that the resident caretaker is a lovely woman who, even if you don't know a word of Greek, somehow manages to communicate with you; beyond that, she weaves her own textiles in the Metsovo tradition and will sell them to you -- but only if you are interested. Finally there is the monastery's location, high on a slope in a remote setting. There are two ways to get there. One is a half-hour walk down a rather steep and rough trail (and an hour-long walk back up). It's signed from the far corner of the main square; take the second left, head for the clock tower, and then follow the signs. But you can drive closer to it by taking the road out of the town square signed Ioannina; at about 1km (1/2 mile), turn left onto the asphalt road signed Anilio, and wind downward for another 3.5km (2 miles). You will spot the monastery on the hillside to your left, and after parking you have to scramble through a vineyard. Knock on the door -- the caretaker will allow entry during reasonable hours (until 7:30pm in high season).