Where We Ate in Plastira Lake Area

Before I forget, I make some notes on where and what I ate during the trip to Plastira Lake.

We left 27th October Sunday and returned 29th Tuesday.

We stayed at a village called Belokomitis and the first dinner was eaten there, too.

It was a place called Panorama and a typical grill-taverna-bar. The choice of food was rather narrow. As mageirefta (slow cooked food), they had only boiled goat. All the other main dishes were grill. The owner told us that they had fasolada (bean soup), but was sold out already. Maybe you have wider choice if you go there for lunch.

So we ordered grilled bread (1 Euro for 2), tomato and cucumber salad (3.50 Euro), beef/veal biftekia with fries (7 Euro), grilled trout with fries (8 Euro), and a bottle of beer (2.50 Euro). I forget to mention that there is trout farm(s?) in Belokomitis and the fish was fresh.

The trout was excellent. The colour of meat was white, rather than normal pink-ish. It did not smell at all like freshwater fish.

The other dishes were also tasty, but I think the portion of biftekia was small for 7 Euro. They could have offered a plate of fruits or something, but no. In any case, we were not really hungry from the start (because we lunched late in Karditsa) and the quantity wasn't our issue at that time.

The total bill was 22 Euro. We left happily, as the food was good.

Grill-Bar Panorama/ Ψησταριά-Μπαρ Πανόραμα
Belokomitis, Plastira Lake
Μπελοκομίτης, Λίμνη Πλαστήρα
(It does not have street number, but being on the main road, so it is unlikely for you to miss it).
Tel. 24410 93103


When we travel, we usually have real meal only once a day. On the day 2, we had a late lunch at a village called Mesenilokas, after a visit to Koloni Monastery.

The more obvious choices in the region were Plaz Lamberou and Tsardaki, but as we are adventurous, we headed for Mesenikolas expecting to be able to find one taverna or two.

On arriving, we headed for the central square of the village, but there wasn't even a kafenio which was open and there wasn't much people around in general. It is a shame because it is a great square. Fortunately, though, I found a taverna-pension which had a bit of people.

It was called Klimataria (the pension is called Messenikolas). There was not table outside, so we ate indoor. We were served by the owner who seemed to have had drunk a lot. He told us that, before our arrival, there was a lot of people there to celebrate 28th October ("Ohi Day"). That made sense.

Again, there were only 3 or 4 choices of cooked food and the other main dishes are from the grill. We ordered, then, cabbage & carrot salad (3 Euro), local feta cheese (3 Euro), pasta souffle (6 Euro), and tomato stewed veal (moshari kokkinisto, 8 Euro), and grilled bread. GH tried to order beer, but the owner suggested us to try wine, because Mesenikolas is in a wine making region (3 Euro for 500ml).

The food was of good standared, but there was a tendency to be salty. The local feta in particular was VERY salty. Anyway, I particularly like the pasta souffle (which happened not to be salty) in the photo above.

At the end, the owner offered as a dessert (kormos with kidoni). Everything was tasty and we were stuffed to the limit. And the bill was only 23 Euro.

Klimataria-Κληματαριά
Mesenikolas, Karditsa
Μεσενικόλας, Καρδίτσα
tel. 24410 95419

We ate so much there and needed coffee to digest. So we headed back to Plaz Lamberou.

This grill-taverna-cafeteria does not show from the main road and you have to go into a side road following signs of "Plaz Lamberou".

It is a huge place and, when we arrived, the outside tables were almost full.

I did not see the menu, but most of the people were eating various grilled meat and pies.

We were here just for a coffee. It was a very nice and warm day, so we had frappe.

A frappe cost 2.50 Euro. If you think that a freddo cappuccino costs 3 Euro in expensive hotels in the region, it is rather expensive.

Anyway, it is a nice place to stop for food or coffee on a warm day.

Plaz Lamberou - Πλαζ Λαμπερού
Plaz Lamberou (Lambero), Plastira Lake
Λαμπερό, Πλησίον Λίμνης Πλαστήρα
Tel. 2441094114

We skipped the dinner, so it is already the third day.

After breakfast at our pension and various photo stops along the road, we had a coffee at Naiades Hotel in Neochori.

The landlady of our pension told us that in the region there is no such thing as cafeteria that we see in Athens, so if we want it, we should rather go to resort hotels that have cafeteria facility.

In Rome as the Romans do. So we tried it.

The cafeteria has a nice view to the lake.

A cappuccino cost 3 Euro, either ice or hot. The waiter offered us cookies filled with white chocolate cream as accompaniment. The hotel was beautiful and is worth the visit. It also has a restaurant and a man who was staying at our pension told us that the food was good.

Naiades Hotel
Neochori, Plastira Lake
Tel. +30 24410 93333
http://www.naiades.gr/

But we had a destination for lunch. It was a restaurant called Keramario, nor far from Mouzaki.

This place is part of a large estate and also a beautiful view to the mountains. The landlady told us that it is so famous that it becomes a bit chaotic on holidays.

So we chose a weekday (it was a day after Ohi Day) and found the place empty, except for 2 other tables.

The problem of visiting on off-days is that they do not have many choice. There was only one mageirefto (stewed dishes) and there is no pita at all. So we ordered horta (boiled greens), local cheese called Tsalafouti, grilled country sausages and grilled pork chop, and grilled bread.

All the dishes were good, but I would not say that it was the best food that I can think of. At the end of meal, the waitress (who I believe was of the owner-family and an American) offered us loukoumades with honey. I found them too oily.

The bill was 26.50 Euro, if I remember well, including 0.5 l. of red wine. What made the bill a tiny bit higher was tsalafouti which cost 4.60 Euro. Everything else was normal price.

What makes the experience at Keramario unique is the animals in the garden. There are chickens, peacocks and deers.

GH and I shot quite a lot of photos of deers and enjoyed it. They are beautiful animals.

This estate has also a pension, if you are interested. It is not close to the Plastira lake, but for mountain hike, it should be fine.

Keramario-Κεραμαριό
Drakotrypa, Mouzaki Karditsa
Δρακότρυπα Καρδίτσας
Tel. 24450 61470
http://www.keramario.gr/

That was all the places we ate in the Plastira Lake area.

But before I close, I make a note about the pension (Ksenonas) we stayed.

It is called Irida and situated in the village of Belokomitis.
Here is the website.
http://www.xenonas-irida.gr/
Tel. 24410 93140
Mob. 697 2503895

We stayed for 40 Euros a night including breakfast. The room was great with a fireplace and view to the mountains. The room was cleaned after the 1st day. The breakfast was simple & basic (coffee, bread, homemade jams, butter, and rice pudding only for the first morning), but for the price we paid we won't complain (in any case, we do not eat cheese or egg for breakfast even at home).