Monodendri is a stone village on the rim of the Vikos Gorge, in the Zagori region of Epirus in north-western Greece, and the first thing you notice is how everything is built from the same grey-gold stone: houses, cobbled lanes, walls and slate roofs. Zagori is a cluster of around forty-odd villages, and in Ottoman times they enjoyed unusual privileges and autonomy, so merchants grew rich and built grand houses, churches and the arched stone bridges that cross the rivers. Paved mule paths, called kalderimia, still link many of them.
At the edge of the village a path leads to the Monastery of Agia Paraskevi, a small whitewashed chapel set right on the cliff, with a drop below that makes you step carefully. Further along, the viewpoint known as Oxya looks across the Vikos Gorge, which is often described as one of the deepest in the world relative to its width. The Voidomatis river runs along the bottom, and on a clear day the opposite walls glow in the afternoon light, with eagles and griffon vultures riding the air.
The road here is the kind that rewards a careful rider. It climbs from the plain near Ioannina through oak and plane forest, twisting up in narrow, sometimes rough bends, with little shoulder and occasional rockfall or loose gravel. Traffic is light, and often the only thing you meet is a local van or a flock of sheep. Early summer and autumn are lovely, while winter brings cold, snow at altitude and the risk of ice, so check the forecast before you commit to the heights.
Fuel is not something to gamble on in these villages. The nearest big town is Ioannina, roughly twenty-four kilometres away, with the bigger lake city offering everything you could need, so fill up there before heading into the mountains. In the village, small guesthouses and tavernas serve pies, mountain greens, local cheese and sturdy red wine, all in a setting where the main sound after dark is a distant river. Allow time to wander on foot, since this is a place to look closely.