It Takes a Village

In the canyons of northern Greece, the people of the Zagorohoria are cementing their home as a playground for outdoor enthusiasts. Eleni N. Gage shares their story.

- Eleni N. Gage

"YOU'RE CANYONING!" my husband, Emilio, yelled down from the monolith above me. I hadn't realized there was a verb for what I was doing-half hiking, half sliding down to a ravine filled with frigid water on a hot summer afternoon. This was our third day in the Zagorohoria, a group of 46 villages that cling to the edge of the Vikos Gorge, in the Epirus region of northern Greece. And we had already used up most of the sporty verbs I knew, as we rock-climbed, hiked, and rafted our way through half a dozen different fairy-tale settings.

The canyon we were exploring has a series of rock pools, or swimming holes, carved out of the limestone by mountain springs. It wasn't the only spot where we took a dip. The previous morning, in the village of Iliochóri, we hiked 3,000 feet down-yes, down-to waterfalls that ended in three levels of strikingly green natural pools. This hidden paradise was well worth what we considered a strenuous trek. But as we spotted an older woman descending a wooden ladder to the swimming area in pumps and palazzo pants, , leather purse in hand, we realized "strenuous" might not be a sentiment shared by everyone.

On another excursion, Emilio and I rented an inflatable raft and glided down the Voidomatis, said to be one of the cleanest rivers in Europe. The water was so clear we could have counted every pebble at the bottom if we had the time--which, in these timeless surroundings, almost seemed like a possibility.