Bites of Ioannina food & history

A culinary city tour for those who love to experience a unique and at the same time varied taste of Epirus’ cuisine. Ioannina has always been the center of a 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.

✔ Private group, Duration : 4 hours
✔ Participants: 2-8 people
✔ Personal group guide
✔ Fluent English speaker
✔ 6 tastings offered
✔ What to bring: comfort clothes and shoes according to the season and the climate conditions
✔ Please let us know if you are having any kind of allergy in food
✔ The whole tour will be on foot
✔ Meeting point: central Clock Tower of Ioannina city (city center)

We start at the old administrative center of the city, at the city clock, around where we taste a local favorite, 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. The countryside of Epirus is full of herbs that add to the quality of the milk produced and, thus, dairy products here are pretty unique. 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, stuffed on a pita bread). Yummy… 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 savor the local dessert : siropiasta (sweets made with thin leaves of pastry nuts over which a syrup, lemon and water is drizzled, after the baking procedure)