MYCOBOTANICA

a Botanical + Fungi focused Immersion in Northern Greece

Greece this time of year is breathtaking.  Super blooms everywhere! Rare plants and hillsides blooming with of terrestrial orchids, peonies, rock rose, valerian, geranium, hawthorne, elder and more!! Come touch plants and stroll around nymph lily mountain lakes where rare salamanders live.  Witness lichen drenched trees and sun kissed mountain streams.  Walk ancient paths and stone bridges where Cistus and Campanulas grow.

Zagoriahoria also known as Zagori sits in the prefecture of Epirus in the northern Pindus mountains. This area is rich in diversity, wildlife and more! We visit picturesque stone clade villages sitting on mountain cliffsides, still with hints of artistry, traditional life ways and the regions treasured culinary delicacies.

We visit a range of different habitats and ecosystems.  Hardwood Kermes Oak, Hazelnut, Ironwood + Beech gift us their incredible mycorrhizal mushrooms like Boletes, Truffles and Chanterelle.  The evergreen of the Fir and Black Pine share Lactarius + Suilles and pine loving fungi. Between these forest habitats we flow amongst rolling sheep and goat grazed high meadows and we even experrience a pseudo-alpine habitat where we see stunted yet mighty old Junipers scattering the terrain and where St. Georges Mushroom(Calocybe gambosa) fairy rings bless our experience.

Come truffle hunting with our friends and their cute dogs that are cared well for and loved.  These amazing cute little pups find us truffles to enjoy, sometimes huge ones! We spend the day on their truffle farm alongside a limestone bed river.

This 9 days is for someone who wants to deepen their plant and mushroom knowledge. Our MYCOBOTANICA seminar will either be your introduction or a continuation to your educational path. We welcome both novice and those with experience working and learning from plants and mushrooms.

SOME TOPICS + group activities

-Identification of Plants, Trees, Mushrooms and more!

-Ethical Harvesting + Gathering of Plants and Mushrooms

-Common uses of Mushrooms + Plants of Greece

-Demystifying Taxonomy + Binomial names

-Smelling Your Way Through the Forest

-Blind Tea Tastings + other senory activities

-Learn how to make Botanical Hydrosols, Oxymels + Honeys

-Common Greek Herbs for Immune support

-Cooking wild mushrooms + local dishes

+ MORE!

9 days of flora, Funga + food of the Zagori Bioregion of Greece

Day 2

Western Zagori - Village life, Natural Dyeing + Farm to Table Meal

Today we start seeping into the region. We stay in stone villages and start drinking the village springwater. We open our time in the region with meeting with a local artist, host, farmer and friend Lena Athanigerakiou. Lena is a specialist and historian regarding local shepherding and the use of wool. She helped start a local cooperative of women who are growing endangered breeds of sheep for our indigenous wool to continue the tradition of woolen arts and textiles. Today we enjoy the process of creating dyed wool with both mushrooms and plants.

Day 3

Vikos Gorge + Voidomatis River

Together we get to witness the vast geology of the western Zagori and its beautiful + dramatic stone villages. We make many stops along the way to gather mushrooms and plants. This is a day of riverside walks, collecting aromatic herbs, gazing into mesmerizing flowers. We visit the Vikos Gorge, Europe’s deepest gorge. Limestone waterway carved out by glaciers,not once but three times over the course of our understanding of the geolgica record. The villages in this area are stone, steep and sometimes popping with tourists, luckily we are on the cusp of peak season. This is our last day on the western front of the Zagori region…tomorrow we head deeper into the circuit of villages, mountain valleys and incalculable beauty.

Day 4

East side of the Vikos Gorge>Valia Calda

More plant foraging + mushroom hunting and immersing in the natural splendor as we travel to a new part of the Zagori region! Today we leave our Vikos Gorge residence early and head to and through feral mountains that break tree lines and have such incredible habitats its overwhelming. Along this path we stop at a Botanoyiatro “Plant Doctor” homestead/museum to see and learn what famous plant medicine practitioners where up to over 100 years ago. Along our journey today we wont hesitate to stop along the way and take a jaunt up the road side forests to find ourselves some fungal delights. In fact we visit a village that is encircled by high meadows of an entire mountain side of terrestrial orchids, last time we counted 16 species alone! We also visit an area where unsupervised cow grazing hasn’t eaten away all the wild PEONIES! Yes, wild Peonies…I cry, will you? Its amazing! We enjoy a special meal at our favorite mountain top cafe, place of artistry and comradery with people trying to preserve their small village and keep it alive!

Day 5

Aoos watershed + fields + forests

Today we restore, retain and process. We slow down to learn more and interact deeper. We use all our SENSES and take a different approach to learning about plants, herbs and mushrooms. Today is a day we go through and work with our botanical and fungal findings. We make medicine, gather for more discussions, practice cooking Greek food and just catch up from our last few days. We get our hands scented with plant resins as we prepare and begin a hydro-distillation or a making of a Hydrosol also known at Aromatic Waters or Botanical Waters. Watch the purest parts of the plant get condensed as an aromatic Earth nectar to be used in various ways. What plant will we use to make a hydrosol this year? Will it be Geranium? Thyme? Chamomile? Yarrow? Only time will tell!

Day 6

Pseudo-Alpine habitats + High Meadows

This year we return to a place we were fortunate enough to stumble upon last year…open rolling high elevation meadows that break even higher to what isn’t technically Alpine habitat but the closest you’ll get here in the Southern Balkans. Have you ever wanted to lay in a meadown surrounded by a slew of medicinal and spring ephemeral plants and flowers? This is your time! Today we take it slow, take it step by step because each moment your eyes see something else! We gather friends like Achillea, Valerian, Red Clover, Hawthorn flowers and more…sounds like stuff you have in your garden maybe? Yes, but these plants are supposed to be here. What has been very rewarding to see as someone that lives in North America/Turtle Island some of the plants we see are deemed invasive back home, and here, this is where they are endemic to, Eurasia so to speak or the Mediterranean depending on the plants seen. More on this concept if you join! Expect in-the-field lessons and discussions about plants we see and their uses and history. Hopefully while in this area, we also find the yummy and fruity Calocybe gamobosa mushroom! A short seasoned wild mushroom that tends to show itself in the higher meadows mid ot late May…fingers crossed!

Day 7

Lakeside foraging->Plant Processing>Wild mushroom cooking outdoors

We visit a different woodland and learn about a different variety of mushrooms we would not see in the ecosystems from the previous days before. These meadows are surrounded by Beech forests and the north side of the lake is Black Pine. This gives us two ecosystem to observe and learn from. Our day will be guided by our experts , more processing of our findings is going on and then a great feast will follow and be prepared with our findings of the last couple days. We will have several mushroom tastings and flights of local cheeses! Truly a good way to spend our last couple days together in the mountains! Our lakeside picnic will be joined by orchis flowers, water birds and dramatic skies, maybe some barking shepherd dogs too that eventually warm up and crash the party.

Day 8

Lessons from the land + Wrapping up projects

Our last full day together, we stroll our home village, finish projects, keep drying herbs + mushrooms to bring back home with us. We make a collective meal and learn techniques to make the authentic food from the region. We steep tea from herbs we collected and taste our foraged finds. This is our ‘Lab‘ day, sans white coats and beakers of course :) What are we trying to preserve to take with us? Information or even a bottle of flower essence? This is our time to chug that mountain springwater, be mesmerized by pollinators and follow the raptors glide in the sky. These mountains are sacred, this land is ancient and the traditions too. Will we be lucky to hear the klarino the last night here and learn to dance the drone-y rhythms of Epirus? Lets hope our musical friends find our mountain hideaway.

Day 9

Grevena

After breakfast, we start returning back towards civilization, I know, heartbreaking…but at least we are heading into the city of Grevena, coined the City of Mushrooms. Before our city shopping romp begins we make a stop at Fotis’ mushroom factory! Learn how he makes his amazing products and come see racks upon rack of drying Boletus AKA Porcini! After our tour we visit several mushroom + herb themed shops with incredible array of products made with local mushrooms and more. Close by we visit one of my favorite cheese shops and get some samples of their high quality cheese + butters. Our last meal together, is at a world famous mushroom restaurant. After a late large lunch we make our way back to Ioannina after our time in Grevena. We land in Ioannina and bring everyone to their respective lodging or the airport. No dinner served.

THOUGHTS ABOUT BOOKING FLIGHTS:

*We ask that you not fly or bus out of Ioannina the last night(May 30, 2026) til at least after 7pm if you must depart the same night the seminar ends.

We highly recommend purchasing travel + medical insurance and/or refundable tickets

Be ready to join us DAY ONE in Ioannina by May 22, 2026 by 10am

Exact location is given upon registration.

Itinerary is tentative and subject to change.

Accessability

Ever been in the woods or for a hike with a mushroom person or plant nerd?

We walk a lot, but not fast LOL

There's no rush, we observe and often stop on the whim because, well, there will likely be mushrooms popping on the side of a tree and we hope you would enjoy to see and touch, smell and even gather their wonder. Sometimes its the sight of a giant old tree that will require us to pay homage to its glory, to stop, and observe.

We do walk stairs and on paths and roads that are often unkept and rocky.  Tragically, Greece is not the best for its accessibility and we hope to accommodate as much as we can. We do suggest bringing walking sticks or purchasing a traditional shepherds walking stick when we visit Ioannina. Its great to have a third leg sometimes!

Your Guides for Zagori

Learn more deeply about your guides here

This is a gentle reminder that Greece this time of year can be hot during the day and cold at night. We spend most days outdoors. We chase the rain and the sun. Sometimes itinerary changes due to weather. On the road, infrastructure like bathrooms, sidewalks, paths and roads are often unpredictable, and can often be not ideal and sometimes these are factors that are out of our control, including, acts of god, natural disasters, illness, acclimate weather, etc. We hope, it is clear that, we are passionate about hosting and organizing in Greece and always make sure everyone is comfy and healthy. Everyone has the ability to take everything at their own pace. We often walk 2-5 miles a day and sometimes more. We ask for you to read everything thoroughly and honor our agreements and terms upon registration to this small, hand crafted assembly of folks on their way to extraordinary places of antiquity and incomparable beauty.

Already planning your own trip to Greece? LETS MEET UP!

If you would like me to meet you and your party there, I am open for private multi-day mushroom + ecologically centered excursions.

email me directly: smugtownmushrooms@gmail.com