It is a good idea to use a different language.As I drive up the road, swallows flit across the burnished grasses on either side and pelicans soar through the summer sky. As the road rises, the oak forest thickens and a Hermann’s tortoise takes a ceremonial slow turn onto a sheep trail at the edge. And then, just as the road briefly levels out before corkscrewing down the other side, a glittering lake appears beneath me – a brilliant blue eye set in a socket of steep mountains. I can’t even begin to count how many times I’ve crossed the pass into the Prespa basin on my way home from trips into town, but the sight of shimmering Lesser Prespa Lake – often striking blue in the afternoons and silvery at sunset – takes me back to the summer of 2000 when I saw it for the first time.
My wife and I, a little more than 25 years ago read a glowing book review about the Prespa lake region. Two Prespa lakes are situated in the north west corner of Greece. An hour away from Kastoria and Florina, they straddle borders between Greece, Albania, and North Macedonia. Prespa is a lake we had never heard of before. But the review of Giorgos Casadorakis’s book changed that. Prespa: A Story for Man and Nature The photos made us think of a vacation there. A week or so spent walking in the hills, watching birds on the beaches in summer and eating in village tavernas by night.
The book was delivered to our London flat at a moment when we had been seriously discussing moving somewhere else. It took only one evening, and a few bottles, to be fair. We didn’t go on holiday but rather to the Prespa National Park to build a new home. Twenty-five years later, we’re still in the village we moved to – Agios Germanos.
I park my car near the pass, and then walk into the hills along a path that has been worn smooth by sheepherders and their livestock. The landscape is languid and sultry in the high summer. A hoopoe flies in the oak and clouds of butterflies float on the warm air. The Great Prespa Lake is also visible from this vantage point, separated by a sandy isthmus. Both lakes are thought to be 3-5 millions years old. They are surrounded almost entirely by mountains. Prespa is a place that has remained vibrant despite the fact that the water level in the lakes has dropped dramatically due to climate change.
Looking north across the rolling oak trees, I can clearly see the point of the lake where Greece meets Albania and North Macedonia. Prespa is a crossroads not only of countries but of geologies too, resulting in an extraordinary profusion and abundance of wild species – almost three times as many butterfly species (172) can be found on the Greek side of Prespa than in the whole of the UK (59).
As a mixed group Dalmatian pelicans and great whites descend towards Lesser Prespa Lake, I look up. When you watch these birds fly across the mountains, their wings can reach a span of over three metres. You feel like you’ve been transported back to the dinosaur age. Prespa is full surprises. I didn’t know that pelicans were found in Greece until we read the book which brought us there. In some winters, Lesser Prespa Lake can freeze solid enough to walk across – and there are far more brown bears in the region than bouzoukis. Prespa, a popular destination in winter for Greek tourists, is due to a ski centre located halfway between Florina, and the basin. However, the spring and summer months are quieter and ideal for nature tourism and walking.
You can also discover a wealth of cultural treasures here: the impressive ruins of Agios Achilleios Basilica, a 1000-year old Byzantine basilica; the lakeside cliffs of Great Prespa Lake with their hermitages, monastic cells and centuries-old hermitages, accessible by boatman hired from Psarades fishing village; the churches that are screened by sacred groves made up of enormous juniper tree, found on many marked walking trails.
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The food and hospitality are what makes this place special. In many villages, there are family-run guesthouses and excellent tavernas that serve regional specialties, such as slow-baked bean in a rich tomato-oregano sauce, fresh carp, and sardine sized fish. tsironia Grilled fish from the Lake Florela Cheese brushed with red chili marmalade and wild greens referred to horta Doused in olive oil and lemon juice.
The heat makes me stop and watch the light cross-hatching on the lakes. As it hunts snakes in forest clearings, a short-toed bird turns into the wind and becomes motionless. It then steers northwards, away from the mountains. Beyond those peaks encircling Prespa are the beautiful, traditional market towns of Korҫë in Albania and Bitola in North Macedonia, which, together with Florina and lakeside Kastoria just outside the basin in Greece, help make the entire region one of endless fascination for me.
The plan is to reopen in a few years the long-closed border crossing between Greece, North Macedonia and the Prespa basin. This would be a great opportunity to create more bridges between the communities and ease tourist movement. Another project will establish a cross-border walking route between our village and the neighbouring mountain village of Brajčino in North Macedonia; it will celebrate the cultural and natural heritage of the common watershed while highlighting the importance of low-impact tourism to local economies, particularly at a time when climate change is making itself felt around the lakes and threatening agricultural livelihoods.
The time is nearing for me to head back along the path, but I first sit under an oak tree, its leaves rustling with the warm wind. I can hear sheepbells in the hills and a steel-blue Dragonfly fluttering through the air. It is as if the sound was shifting and swirling, like at summer’s Saint’s Day festivals. panigyriaWhen the soaring, wild music of clarinets, and the raucous Balkan Brass rise into the mountain night, as people gather around with food and drinks to circle dance in village squares.
Prespa is a place where cultures come together, and wildlife co-exists. It’s a place that should be experienced slowly, and with care. Prespa, my home, has been around for 25 years, but when I look down at the blue water shimmering below me, I still feel like I’m experiencing it for the first time.
More information can be found at Society for the Protection of Prespa You can also find out more about the following: Visit Prespes
