The first winter snows blanketed many places in Greece this weekend, as ski season seemed to finally have arrived. While cities like Athens only saw some sporadic rain, other destinations were transformed into winter wonderlands. Instagrammers and photographers headed out into the white stuff and captured the first wintery images of the season. Below are some of our favorites.
The famous monastery-topped rock pillars of Meteora, and the nearby town of Kalampaka, were capped in white early on Friday morning. As the forecast had predicted, more snow covered the highlands of mainland Greece and western Macedonia on Saturday and Sunday. Social media dutifully exploded with magical images from places like Kozani, Florina, and Mount Olympus.
Snow chains were needed on the roads in several areas in Kozani, Florina, and Karditsa.
A beautiful drone video of the white landscape in Epirus, shot by Giorgos Malamidis at the artificial lake of the Aoos Springs at an elevation of ca. 1.300 metres, shows a side of Greece that not many tourists ever get to see: the fir tree-lined shoreline of the mountain lake is grey with frost, and the dense clouds make the whole scenery look like the setting for a Game of Thrones battle north of the wall.
While Greece is known for having very good, sunny weather even during the winter months, in the mountains snow is always expected, and many wait excitedly for it’s arrival. The first flakes of the year – not true winter snowfalls – can come as early as September, but this was the real deal, inspiring hashtags such as #letitsnow, #mountfulness, #mysteriousgreece, and #snowstagram.
