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PÁRGA is a photogenic and popular coastal town, approximately 50km south of Igoumenítsa on the Epirot shoreline. An arc of tiered houses, set below a Norman-Venetian kástro, and superb local beaches, with a string of rocky islets offshore, constitute as enticing a resort as any in western Greece. However, since the late 1980s this has been swamped by concrete apartments at the outskirts, and package tourism has even engulfed the next village, Anthoússa, 3km west, where numerous tavernas and accommodation places nestle under a tiny, hatbox castle between Ayiá and Tríkorfo, nocturnally illuminated for tourists' benefit. In peak season, it's hard to recommend more than a brief stopover in Párga (if you can find a room) before taking the twice-daily local ferry to Paxí, which in July and August must also be reserved in advance. The Corfu model, presumably, was just too close to ignore, though plans to enlarge the harbour to accommodate cruise liners have fortunately been suspended.
Párga's fate is all the more poignant given its idiosyncratic history. From the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries Párga was a lone Venetian toehold in Epirus, complementing the Serene Republic's offshore possessions in the Ionian Islands. The Lion of St Mark - symbol of Venice - is still visible on the kástro keep. Under Venetian rule, a small community of Jews prospered here from the export of citrons to Western Europe for liturgical use; they, and the citrons, are long gone but lemon groves remain at Anthoússa. Later, the Napoleonic French took Párga for a brief period, leaving additional fortifications on the largest islet, a 200-metre swim from the harbor beach.
At the start of the nineteenth century, the town enjoyed a stint of independence, being self-sufficient through the export of olives, still a mainstay of the region's agriculture. After that, the British acquired Párga and subsequently sold it to Ali Pasha, who rebuilt all the local castles. The townspeople, knowing his reputation, decamped to the Ionian Islands, the area being resettled by Muslims who remained until the exchange of populations in 1923, when they were replaced in part by Orthodox Greeks from the area around Constantinople
The town and its beaches
The town is dominated by the blufftop Kástro (open all day; free at present), a haven from Párga's bustle. A long stair-street leads up to the ruined, cypress-tufted ramparts, which offer excellent views of the town, its waterfront and a mountainous backdrop. A visitor centre inside the castle is approaching completion, after which you can expect some sort of perfunctory museum and an admission charge.
Párga's fine beaches line three consecutive bays, split by the fortress headland, and get very crowded in midsummer. The small bay of Kryonéri lies opposite the church-studded islet, an easy swim away (or reachable by self-drive motorboat, a popular option). Immediately beyond the kástro (and on foot easiest reached by the long ramp from the kástro gate; also frequent water-taxis in season from the town dock) lies Váltos beach, more than a kilometer in length as it arcs around to the hamlet of the same name. Lykhnos, 3km in the opposite (southeast) direction, is a similarly huge beach; a shaded path through the olive groves, starting beyond the supermarket and bakery behind Kyronéri, shortcuts the winding road in, or again taxi-boats spare you the walk. |
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