Delicious Pies of Mrs Alexandra at Aristi, Zagoroxoria

It was November, Sunday and evening, so due to the season the light was limited and most of the tavernas nearby were closed or were about to close, both in Aristi and Great Pappigo.

We were damned to stay hungry until the last tavern owener we visited suggested to try Mrs Alexandra; " Why don't you try Mrs Alexandra's cafee? She owns a small cafe shop and makes some delicious home-made pies. The best in the area. You can even buy the whole pie".

So now the idea was to take the pie back to the hotel and serve it with wine, sitting in front of the fireplace. Not bad right? We reached the cafe and Mrs Alexandra welcomed us in a very polite way. The cafe was old with an old stove and a bunch of eldests sitting around the tables. In Greece, local cafes, especially at villages away from urban centres, are very important places for people to gather, to get their post, to see the doctor and to get entertained. 

We waited for nearly half an hour to get the traditional epirus pie (Kassiopita it is called) out of the oven. The made was made of a thin dough, eggs, yiogurt and feta cheese. We went back to our hotel within minutes and we locked up in the room with our pie, our wine and our fireplace. Ideal situation.

Next morning we went back to Mrs Alexandra's cafe to thank her for the great pie and she was sweet enough to treat us with some delicious pumpkin traditional desert and hand us out a local tourist guide which was the reason for many discoveries on our way back via Sarantaporo.