Greece – Arta (En)

We decided to stop in Arta, the capital of Epirus, because it’s full of archaeological sites and brimming with life, with charming pedestrian areas, cafes, and bars. Arta is famous for its bridge, its Byzantine castle, and National Resistance Square. The square is a meeting point for locals and is full of shops, cafes, bars, and a very pretty church. The city has a lot to offer, as you’ll see below.

Where to stay

We stayed in the free parking lot in front of the Amvrakia city wall (39.167327, 20.986249 lat, long), a 5-minute walk from the castle, the market, and the shops. It’s a public parking lot with about four spaces for campervans at the entrance. If those spaces are taken or your campervan is too long, you can park on the other side of the lot. There are no facilities other than a water fountain and trash cans. We stayed with a campervan because two other motorhomes that arrived were too big for the spaces, so they parked on the other side. Many cars use our parking spaces during the day, which I don’t understand, as the parking lot is huge. The location is great, as you can easily explore the whole city on foot.

Que ver

We walked along the city wall until we reached Karaiskaki Square, where there is a statue in the centre. From the square, a side street leads to the castle. It is a 13th-century Byzantine castle, and admission is free. The castle is located on the southwest side of the fortress walls. Inside, there are three buildings from the Ottoman period. Above the entrance to the largest building is a marble slab depicting a lion, which came from an unknown Byzantine church. In one corner, you can see a rectangular wellhead with a coat of arms in relief. During the Middle Byzantine period, the castle was used as an inner fortress. Currently, outdoor events are held, while regular exhibitions are organised inside the largest building.

Near the entrance to the castle is the open-air municipal theatre, where the clock tower is.

Walking down the street from the tower, you reach the central market, which we entered. Then we walked down through the city streets, where there were many fishmongers with very good prices.

At the end of the street, you reach National Resistance Square, which we loved. The square is surrounded by bars with a fountain in the centre. There’s a beautiful Orthodox church in the square. It was closed, so we couldn’t see inside.

We continued wandering through the streets until we reached the church of the patron Saint Theodora, an important 13th-century Byzantine monument. From there, we returned to the motorhome.

We decided that our next stop would be at the Kykao brewery near Patras, as they played music on Friday nights, as you can see in the following blog post.