Xionodromika

Parga: “The Nymph of Epirus”

Parga


Parga is a beautiful town in Preveza prefecture and constitutes an excellent touristic resort, attracting visitors from the whole Greece. It is located southwest of Ipirus, near Acherontas River and Igoumenitsa, and opposite there are the picturesque islands of Paxoi and Antipaxoi. It is 420km far away from Athens and 512km from Thessaloniki.

It is a beautiful traditional built-up area, amphitheatrically built in the fringes of the Venetian castle with a history of many centuries and a lot of natural beauties.

Narrow paving streets rising to the castle hill, the verdurous islet of the Virgin with its scenic country church, tasteful two and three-storey houses with wooden balconies and tiled roofs in accordance with the local popular architecture, are some of the lovely scenes the visitor meets in Parga.

Parga Map

Each summer Parga attracts thousands of visitors, as it has got excellent touristic substructures with a lot of hotels, lodgings, campings, restaurants, bars, cafes and night clubs.

Parga Attractions & Surrounding Area

Parga’s Castle, which is situated in the northern side of the port and was built in the 14th century with the help of Normans. After consecutive destructions, it took its final form by the Venetians. Ali Pasha’s castle commands north, built on a high hill with a fascinating view.

There, the visitor takes a good idea of fortification and understands the perfection of the plan of defense, created by the Venetians. Archways, supply lodges, gun emplacements, powerful ramparts with gun wickets, hidden channel to the sea, barracks, prisons, dumps, and two forts at the last line of defense show a perfect research of defense, which along with the natural fortification render it an unbeatable fortress.

Virgin’s islet, a verdurous islet which is located opposite Parga’s port, with the tabernacle and the quaint bell-tower, as well the small castle, which was built by French and commands the highest point of the island.

Anthousa’s Castle. It is an imposing fortress built on a hillock, between Anthousa and Agia, and offers a panoramic view of the whole area of Parga. The fortress was built by Ali Pasha in order to keep Parga under surveillance and besiege it. The castle is preserved in good repair.

Church Museum. It is situated in the centre of the town, right next to the church of Saints Apostoloi. The visitor can find a lot of interesting exhibits, such as two Gospels of the 17th century, two copies of dirges of a monk of Mount Athos (1600), old and newer icons, among which, these of the Virgin of Vlaherna, the Virgin Odigitria and Panagiopoula, and Parga’s standard, about 300 years old, by red silk, where the Virgin and the divine enfant are pictured with golden stars. Onto the banner, one can distinguish the marks by the bullets of the Turks.

Monastery of Vlaherna. It is a byzantine monastery of the 12th century situated in Valtos area in Parga, on a hill. Its bell-tower, since the 18th century, is 15m high. It is a half-destroyed, small, one-room church, with a walling, where the embrasures are distinguished. The icon of the Virgin of Vlaherna is said to have come from Kappadokia. Today, it is kept in the church museum of Parga.

Church of Saint Sostis. It is an especial church, which is built into the hollow formed between two huge joint rocks, one from which forms the screen wall of the church.

The Mycenaean Tomb. It is a vaulted Mycenaean tomb that was found in “Kyperi” area and dates from the 14th century.

Parga is also famous for its wonderful beaches. Most beaches are fully-organized and have got substructures for different water sports, such as water ski, windsurfing, sea parachute, diving (particularly around Parga’s castle and Agios Nikoalos islet) etc.The most famous and much-frequented beaches of Parga are:

Valtos Beach. It is the largest beach of Parga and stretches for 3km. It is situated right above the impressive rock, where Parga’s castle is built. It is a beautiful pebbly and sandy beach that is organized and offers the visitor water-sports.

Kryoneri Beach. It is in Parga and is just a few metres away from the centre and the jetty of Parga. Opposite the beach and at a small distance, there is the picturesque islet of the Virgin, where you have access by swimming.

Lychnos Beach. It is one of the reputed beaches of Parga, which offers a verdurous landscape and deep blue crystal-clear waters. It is an organized beach too, offering the visitor water-sports and is just 4km away from Parga.

Sarakiniko Beach. It is a beautiful beach which is found 12km away from Parga, after Agia village. A small boat from Parga’s jetty can lead you to Sarakiniko beach. A sublime natural landscape will reward the visitor.

The wonderful beaches of Piso Kryoneri, Ai Giannakis and Ai Sostis look interesting too.

Parga and the greater offer themselves to lots of activities, such as diving, water ski, fishing, wind-surfing, hiking, bird watching, rafting, mountain bike, slope parachute, riding etc.

Parga Photos

Parga Useful Telephone Numbers (Calling code for Greece 0030)

Parga Police Station
26840 31254, 31222