Culinary Ioannina City Tour

Ioannina has always been the centre of a pretty much remote, until recently, region of Greece and, as such, it had to cater for a variety of customers, from the mountain villagers who came to the city once a week for supplies, to merchants and to the officials of the area. Their culinary needs varied enormously, that is why a rich and varied food culture exists for everyone, from local street food to haute cuisine.

We start at the Clock Tower, where we taste a local favourite, bougatsa (a pastry, sweet or savoury), particularly popular as a pick-me-up in the morning.Then we’ll be having our first bite of Ioannina history with a fine view of the southeast of Ioannina.After that break we will be enjoying a platter of local cheeses. We will accompany the cheese with the local aperitif, tsipouro. Next door we’ll be tasting the Greek street food par excellence : gyros (grilled meat cut thin with tzatziki sauce, on a pita). We continue for some local street food : lamb souvlaki (kebab, i.e. wooden skewers threaded with cubes of meat that are marinated and then cooked over charcoal).Then we’ll taste food combining local ingredients and recipes in a new form.At the end we’ll savour the local dessert : siropiasta (sweets made with thin leaves of pastry nuts over which a syrup, lemon and water is drizzled, after baking)