Vegoritida to Kastoria: A route by car between 4 lakes

How do you see four lakes in one route? As we approach the heart of autumn, the need for an escape in the yellow-red natural palette becomes more than imperative.

What better autumn destination than Kastoria and the wider Western Macedonia  region with its enchanting lake that fills the soul and the eye with the constant change of landscapes and colours?

Starting from Lake Vegoritida in the east of Amyntaio, you head further west towards the quiet and small Lake Petron.

Known for the small village of Agios Panteleimon, the fairly large Lake Vegoritida is located in the middle of a magical - and somewhat lunar - landscape that changes colour according to each season of the year.

The two lakes are joined both above ground and underground by a network of channels that facilitates the flow of water from one lake to the other, and thus, the water level of the lakes is kept constant throughout the year.

Lake Petron is still a dynamic ecosystem and much more. It is a mesmerising natural landscape with an inexplicable natural melancholy that is vividly depicted in every photograph.

Leaving behind the small bare mountains surrounding the two lakes of Amyntaio, take the road that connects Kastoria and Amyntaio until you reach the village of Pedinos, where you will turn towards Valtonera and go straight to Limnohori.

The small settlement with the lake name is next to the relatively shallow, small, undisturbed Lake Zazari. With a depth of up to four metres, Lake Zazari is located at the foot of Mount Vernos and belongs to the wider complex of lakes in Western Macedonia.

It connects underground with Lake Chimaditis, which is located just a few kilometres next door.

The two lakes are protected ecosystems, as they are home to rare species, such as the mallard duck, which you will surely see undisturbed in the calm waters.

From there, taking the road to Aeto and then again to Kastoria, you drive through a verdant hillside that every autumn fills with every possible brown, red and orange, giving you a unique sight that you will only find in Valia Kalda or Karpenisi.

Arriving at the downhill bends of Mount Kleisoura, you see Lake Orestiada (Lake Kastoria) emerging from afar in the distance of the horizon.

The well-known and picturesque lake of Kastoria is the last stop on the route of the lakes of Western Macedonia and is both an important ecosystem and a point of culture with enormous folklore value.

It is a Natura-protected area due to a large number of rare birds and fish. Lake Orestiada is an important ecosystem that, despite periodic environmental stress, manages to maintain its dynamism and energy.

In fact, in the past, Lake Kastoria used to freeze for fifteen days a year every winter, with the city's inhabitants and the surrounding villages building improvised sledges to move on the thick ice from one end of the basin to the other.

Although this rustic image is largely lost today, Lake Orestida creates a magical landscape that every moment of the day - with or without sunshine - is worth experiencing, capturing and, most importantly, feeling.

Yianni Koutroudi is a columnist for Travel. Translated by Paul Antonopoulos.

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