The idea of the Cultural Route that “united” the five theaters and was implemented by the Region of Epirus has its starting point in 2013, inspired by Stavros Beno and the Association “Diazoma”
The ancient theater of Kassopi is located at an altitude of 550 meters and offers a wonderful view to the Preveza peninsula, the Ionian Sea, the Amvrakikos Gulf and the Akarnanian coast. The ruins of Kassopaia, the impressive city that was built below the theater, extend on the slope of the mountain and the monumental complex of the Dance of Zalongos created by G. Zongolopoulos is also visible, to the east, from its stands.
This visual contact of history and culture offered by the archeological site of Kassopi to the modern visitor, connecting the sea of Amvrakikos, the coasts of Preveza and the Ionian are two-way reference points on the map of the Cultural Route created by the Development “Epirus SA” of the Region of Epirus aiming at 5 Its great ancient theaters in Dodoni, Ioannina, Gitana in Thesprotia, Amvrakia (Arta), Kassopi and Nikopoli in Preveza become from year to year “the core for a rich, multidimensional, holistic cultural experience”, a powerful tourist product. As the visitor of Kassopi “sees” to the largest beach in Europe (Monolithi) that the Forbes magazine had suggested last year, due to Covid, as safer and invites tourists to discover it or the ancient theater of Nikopolis “leads” to the rare wetland of Amvrakikos so the other ancient theaters connect dozens of tourist destinations on the big map of Epirus.
The idea of the Cultural Route which “united” the five theaters and was put into practice by the Region of Epirus has its starting point in 2013, inspired by Beno Cross and Diazoma Association. Within five years, “a lot of water fell into the mill” to … run the Integrated Spatial Investment, amounting to 37 million euros, which allocated (and has) most of the funds for restoration, landscaping, promotion and expropriation projects (these mainly in Nikopolis that will allow its inclusion in Unesco) to “save our heritage and then be able to develop it” as said a representative of the Development Continent SA, the body that undertook to coordinate from 2019 all those who framed the public Cultural Route based on perspectives and new programs in the EU.
The master plan of the ancient theaters of Epirus reached as far as Brusselsto elicit laudatory comments that “Epirus is a pioneer even in Europe” and for European officials to arrive in the region to pay tribute to the inspirers and institutions of the Region. Through the i thea program, the Cultural Route as a project “expanded” beyond the borders to collaborate with Albanian partners in Interreg Greece-Albania 2014-2020, with the University of Ioannina (School of Architecture) and (most importantly) to manage to create today a cluster, a network of local businesses with 70 participants-members from the 4 regional units that support and are supported by the Cultural Route. These are hotels, restaurants, production units of local products and a small number of cultural institutions and organizations.
«A Cultural Route is not only the monuments, it is mainly the People who embrace them, who will promote them, will put them in the center of their lives so that first they can be proud of what they have and secondly they can when the visitor comes through products, through the services that will be provided by each restaurant and each hotelier to promote the Cultural Corridoror “, said Mrs. Georgia Kitsaki executive of the Development Continent, who together with her colleague Aristotle Stagika accompanied Greek and foreign journalists on their tour of the 5 ancient theaters of Epirus but also to the other monuments and tourist attractions of the Cultural Route: the Municipal-Ethnographic Museum of Ioannina-Aslan Pasha mosque, the Acropolis of the Castle (Its kale), Its Kale, of Amvrakikos, the Bridge of Arta and the sanctuary of Panagia Parigoritissa which is an important Byzantine monument of Arta.
Epirus gastronomy meets the Cultural Route
The Cultural Route to the 5 ancient theaters introduced to Greek and foreign journalists (from Britain, Albania, Bulgaria) and the Continental gastronomy that, as he said in APE-MPE, the thematic vice-governor for the promotion of local products is Panagiotas area.
The reputation of the gambari, the small shrimp that is currently caught in the Amvrakikos, (gambars are called by the locals) has reached other continents but the local cooking variations have created their own… brand name of delicacy. The exceptionally delicious sardine “papalina” of Amvrakikos, the oil pie of Preveza, the mullet “petal” on the coals, the homemade liqueurs with fruits and nuts of Epirus nature that offer small ecotourism hostels of Ioannina, Xakou Gianstala Cheeses are flavors that unlock Epirus cuisine.
How do we make kykeona?
A surprise for those who participated in the fam trip (familiarization trip) was the presentation of kykeona in its… Epirotic version. The ancient Greek drink whose authentic recipe is lost in the depths of history and myths was presented in Dodoni at a special meal with ancient Greek and Byzantine recipes. Epirus Gastronomy Club. According to the president of the Club, Theodoros Alexiou, who supervised the preparation and serving of kykeona to the journalists, the breakfast of the ancient Greeks as its main ingredients had red sweet wine, honey “the more aromatic the better”, green cheese (cream cheese of trade if there is no another option) and fine semolina. The ingredients are all put together to bind in a first boil and as much as for the quantities of… “with the eye”, as the Epirote grandmothers say. The ancients drank it depending on the time but also ate it with a spoon when they wanted it to be thicker. You add nuts or any other nuts you prefer and eat it fresh… “.
«At the Gastronomy Club of Epirus we have done a lot of research and studies on how we can reconstruct old, ancient Greek recipes in the closest way. From time to time many attempts have been made with preparations and adaptations with interesting results. We tried to get as close as possible to these recipes and especially for kykeona we looked for evidence from the many references that exist in ancient texts such as the Athenian in “Deipnosofistes”, in occasional references such as the Odyssey where kykeona mentions Kirkis and reaching as far as Eleusinian Mysteries…“, Said Mr. Alexiou to APE-MPE. However, he clarified that kykeonas is not served in restaurants of Epirus but is the “welcome” of the Club in the presentation of meals with ancient Greek recipes. “His last traces in the tradition, he concluded, may have to do with our grandparents who dipped the bread in wine and ate it for breakfast…”
Soon, however, all the ancient theaters will have a digital guide and new digital tools will be added to the Cultural Route, while the Region of Epirus has promoted its value to large tour operators.
A few years ago, however, the statistics for the archeological sites and the ancient theaters of Epirus recorded numbers of visitors (91,000 in 2019 in total) most in Dodoni and Nikopolis while in other theaters low compared to the numbers of visitors in the alternative and well-known mountainous destinations of eg Zagorochoria, Metsovo, Vikos-Aoos park, in Acheron or in the popular summer destinations such as Parga, Sivota, Drepano. The completion of the Egnatia Odos first and the Ionian Odos afterwards took many areas of Epirus out of isolation and added to its tourist mobility, “more visitors from Macedonia”, “road tourism from the Balkans”, “visitors from Attica and the Peloponnese” “” Visitors who combine mountain and sea “but also Italian, German, British and Scandinavian tourists (before the pandemic) in such numbers that within a decade more than doubled.
