Ioannina

Kalarrytes is located on the western slopes of the mountain range of Pindos in the Prefecture of Ioannina in Epirus. The charming village is built at an altitude of 1120 meters and geographically belongs to the region of Tzoumerka. The village is surrounded to the south by the mountainous masses of South Pindos, the Athamanian Mountains or Tzoumerka (2429m) and north of Mount Lakmos or Peristeri (2294m). Among them Kalarrytikos or Chrousia River, a tributary of Arachthos, flows its waters.

The area of the village, as it appears from the findings, has been inhabited since the Copper Age. The raids of the Slavs in the lowlands during the 7th century forced the inhabitants to ascend and settle in the mountains and inaccessible locations for greater security. Somewhere between 10th-12th c. the Vlach-speaking Greeks, mainly breeders who lived a half-life, appeared in the area.

The original huts of the farmers took the name Kalarrytes in the beginning of the 13th century from the waters that wandered rolling out of the rocks, as Pukeville says. However, it may well come from the surname Kalaris who gave the place name Kalari, or on the basis of the normal spellings of Kalarites, since its name refers to the Aromanian (Vlach) word calar that means “rider, horseback rider, horse rider”.

Kalarrytes is a proclaimed traditional settlement. Along with neighboring Syrrako are the only villages that keep this architecture unchanged in the south of the prefecture of Ioannina. The gray stone of the place is also the basic building material and the wood from Pramanta and Melissourgi.

The sights of the village include the mansions of: Voulgaris, Bazakis, Barboutis, Nessis, Tourtouris, Paraschis, Patouni, Raftanis, Baikousis, Kostadimas. Of these, some are well-preserved and others dilapidated.