Vradeto () is a village in the Greek

Zagori Zagori (; ), is a region, a municipality, and a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the Pindus mountains in Epirus, in northwestern Greece. The seat of the municipality is the village Asprangeloi. It has an area of some and contains 46 v ...

region ( Epirus region). It lies at a height of on Mt Tymphe in the

Pindus The Pindus (also Pindos or Pindhos; ; ; ) is a mountain range located in Northern Greece and Southern Albania. It is roughly long, with a maximum elevation of (Smolikas, Mount Smolikas). Because it runs along the border of Thessaly and Epiru ...

mountain range. It is the highest of the 44 villages of Zagori. Vikos Gorge from Beloe

It is the middle of the

Vikos–Aoös National Park The Vikos–Aoös National Park ( ''Ethnikós Drymós Víkou–Aóou'') is a national park in the region of Epirus (region), Epirus in northwestern Greece. The park, founded in 1973, is one of ten National parks of Greece, national parks in main ...

and is about away from

Ioannina Ioannina ( ' ), often called Yannena ( ' ) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina (regional unit), Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus (region), Epirus, an Modern regions of Greece, administrative region in northwester ...

. It is located only a few kilometers from the

Vikos Gorge The Vikos Gorge or Vikos Canyon () is a gorge in the Pindus Mountains of northwestern Greece. It lies on the southern slopes of Mount Tymphe with a length of about 32 km, depth ranging from 120 to 1350 m, and a width ranging from 2500 m to ...

and near one of the best vantage points, Beloe (Beloi) (perhaps a Slavic word meaning "good view" or "balcony"). It is located also close to an alpine lake called Drakolimni (''Dragon's Lake''), one of several such lakes. The lakes are named after the amphibian newts ('' Ichthyosaura alpestris'') that live in them, around which there are myths of dragons. The myths are echoes of ancient myths about the hero

, son of

Macedon Macedonia ( ; , ), also called Macedon ( ), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, which later became the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by the royal ...

, who either befriended or according to another myth killed a dragon.

Nearest places

* Tsepelovo, east (distance: ) * Kapesovo, south (distance: )

Population

History

Until the close of the 20th century there was only one way to reach the village, via a kalderimi (paved mule road) called the ''Skala of Vradeto'' () a stairway of about 1,000 steps built on the side of a canyon and almost impossible to seem from a distance. It starts at the end of a long path from the village of Kapesovo. Vradeto's difficulty of access probably explains its location in the inhospitable highlands near the top of Mt Tymphe. A road was opened in the 1970s. It is believed to have been settled initially by families from Skamneli at around 1616, according to Ioannis Lamprides.Christogoulas Stefanos ''Βραδέτο – το Μπαλκόνι του Ζαγορίου'' (''Vradeto: The Balcony of Zagoria'') Εκδόσεις Εφύρα, 2006 Orthodox

Albanians The Albanians are an ethnic group native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, Albanian culture, culture, Albanian history, history and Albanian language, language. They are the main ethnic group of Albania and Kosovo, ...

, locally called "Arvanites", have the village settled after the 15th century and were later assimilated into the local population.

Sarakatsani The Sarakatsani (), also called Karakachani (), are an ethnic Greeks, Greek population subgroup who were traditionally Transhumance, transhumant shepherds, native to Greece, with a smaller presence in neighbouring Bulgaria, southern Albania, an ...

have settled at the beginning of the 20th century. The traditional stone architecture is dominant in every building, in the village paths, dwellings and churches, many now ruined or in a state of significant disrepair. The main church, dedicated to the Birth of Mary () was built in 1799 with a donation from Nikolaos Tsigaras. Other churches are those of Agios Athanasios at the top of the Skala, Agios Nikolaos, Prophetes Elias and Agios Georgios with a cemetery.

Folklore

The Feast of the Birth of Mary is celebrated with a three-day festival starting on 8 September.

Bibliography

References

External links

Cultural Club of Vradeto
{{Zagori div Populated places in Ioannina (regional unit) Zagori