Jaap van 't Veen's photos with the keyword: Thesprotia

Some pictures of the stone single-arched stone bridge in Vrosina. Its construction was funded by the Makralexis Monastery The bridge crosses the river Zaloggitikos just before it flows into the Kalamas. I estimate the bridge is dating back to the end of the 19th century, like a lot of other stone bridges in Epirus. But to be honest I couldn’t find much information about the bridge. Even two friendly and helpful Vrosina-women were not able to find important information about its history on the internet.

The Monastery of Giromeriou (or officially: The Holy Patriarchal and Stavropegic Monastery of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary of Giromeri) was founded in the beginning of the 14th century (between 1310 and 1320), at the time of the prosperity of the Despotate of Epirus. It constituted an important monastic center and reached its greatest peak in the middle of the 16th century, when it numbered approximately 300 monks. The founder and first possessor of the monastery was Saint Nilos Erihiotis (1228-1334), who came from Constantinople. The katholikon (main church) of the monastery was gradually built. It is a church of small dimensions and is constructed of four cross-shaped columns with a domed roof. Possibly, it was at first a single-nave church, while its present form, namely the four parts of it, is a result of renovations at different times During our visit (May 2019) the brotherhood consists of four monks, who settled in the monastery in1989.

Sagiada is a quiet coastal fishing village in the northwest of Thesprotia, close to the border with Albania. In its heyday Sagiada was one of the busiest ports of Epirus. Wealthy merchants lived in Old Sagiada, which was built on a hillside above the harbour. During the Turkish occupation Ali Pasha - an Ottoman Albanian ruler who served as pasha of Epirus and the western parts of Thessaly and Greek Macedonia - talked with Napoleon in Sagiada, trying to get assistance for his military campaigns. Old Sagiada was burnt down in 1943 by Albanian cohorts (known as Tsamides) of the Germans. The inhabitants fled to the coast and never came back to rebuild the village. The only building which was restored after the war by the villagers is the Agios Georgios church. It stands in the middle of the ruins on a kind of village square. The ruins covered with ivy are the only other reminders of the past nowadays. When we visited the ghost village a cow along the main road was the only living creature we encountered.