"Ioannina, the gateway to the region, is a short flight from Athens, where I've lived since 2017. Built along Pamvotis Lake, the city is famous for its Ottoman ruins, which are some of the best preserved in the country. During the day I spend there, I stop by the family-owned bakery Select for bougatsa, a custard pie, then hop a ferry to the island at the center of the lake to see the frescoes of the 13th-century Monastery of Philanthropenoi: ancient monotheistic Greek philosophers and gruesome depictions of martyrs' deaths."