Λίμνη Παμβώτιδα

Limni Ioanninon - Lake Ioannina - Lake Pamvotis

Useful Information

A view from the exit of Perama Cave on Lake Ioannina. The hill to the left is Mt. Goritza, where the cave is located, the village in front is Perama. The city on the far shore of the lake is Ioannina.

Location:	Ioannina. (39.66069, 20.89248)
Open:	no restrictions. [2024]
Fee:	free. [2024]
Classification:	Karst lake, Ponor.
Light:	n/a
Dimension:	L=7.9 km, W=5.4 km, Ar=19.4 km², Davg=4.5 m, Dmax=11 m, A=470 m asl.
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	yes
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History

1960	construction of a tunnel and ditch draining from the northern end of the lake to the river Kalamas

Description

The Λίμνη των Ιωαννίνων (Limni ton Ioanninon, Lake of Ioannina), a name which is often used in foreign language guidebooks, is located east of the city Ιωάννινα (Ioánnina), hence the name. But the actual name of the lake is Λίμνη Παμβώτιδα (Lake Pamvotis, The Great Provider) or Λίμνη Παμβώτις (Lake Pamvotis). The name Pamvotis first appears in the 12th century commentary on the Odyssey of Eustathius of Thessalonica. It is the largest lake of Epirus, located in the central part of the Ioannina regional unit in northern Greece. Lake Ioannina seems to be a Karst karst lake. Unfortunately, we had no scientific literature about this, but a view on the location, and a second one on the map tells pretty much.

The whole area around Ioannina is karstified, and as it is mostly Karst bare karst, this is clearly visible. There are several caves too, like Showcave Perama Cave and Cave Kastritsa Cave.

The lake has numerous tributaries, from the springs of Mount Mitsikeli, Drabatova, Sendeniko and Krya, but no visible drain. Drainage is through karst caves under the lake towards the rivers Arachthos, Louros and Kalamas. We could read this in several guide books, but it is pretty obvious. If the lake had no drain at all, it would grow until it overflowed its banks, then there would be a drain. The only alternative is less rain than evaporation, but this would make it a salt lake pretty soon.

This lake is no seasonal lake, it has more or less the same level all the year. The reason is not known to us, but a guess is that the caves provide a sort of overflow channel, and drain the lake in winter, when it gets lots of water from the surrounding mountains. During summer, most of the tributaries fall dry and the subterranean drainage probably too.

The lake looks pretty nice from the mountains around. It has a clean blue colour, and a bath in the lake seems to be a good idea. Unfortunately, the lake is rather dirty, the shores are full of reed and water snakes. In some books, the missing drain is blamed for this situation, but that is nonsense. The lake has drainage, which is subterranean, and it is definitely not responsible for the poor water quality! But the city of Ioannina, with nearly 100,000 inhabitants, uses the lake for its sewage for centuries now.

Kyra Frosini was a beautiful young girl that asked her parents to allow her to marry a Greek merchant from Venice. She did so at the age of 12, to avoid being forced to join the harem of Ali Pasha, the local ruler. They did so, but one day, when her husband was away, Muhtar the son of Ali Pasha, fell in love with her. Unfortunately, Ali Pasha also liked her, so he sent his son away on a military mission to be able to get close to her himself. She refused his advances, and finally he accused her of prostitution and ordered her to be executed. Finally, 16 girls were quite spectacularly drowned in the lake for adultery. This story sounds like a legend, but actually it really happened in the year 1801.