Ali Pasha and Revolutionary Period Museum - Unnamed Road

Very interesting museum on the reign of Ali Pasha. Appreciate that altho he was a Muslim, there is appreciation of what he left behind

A must have experience, a journey back in time. Authentic traditional female and male clothing of Epirus. Silversmiths such as jewellery and weapons, paintings, lithographs, an authentic winter room, even a torture cave, approached from inside the residence. The museum is located in the island of Pamvotis Lake and you get there by a ferry. You buy the ferry tickets while on board. (2€ per person.).

A very nice museum of this great Albanian man which ruled a large part of Greece and Albania but not all of the museum was satisfying to watch, hence the 4 stars. As a start, Ali Pasha Tepelena was from Tepelenë, Albania and the ottomans referred to him as Ali Pasha Tepelena in their writing, as that what his nickname, but I noticed that the greeks fail to include the Tepelena part and only keep the Ali Pasha as a more neutral way to fit their side of the history. Also, the men’s traditional clothing exposed in the museum had several clothings which were 100% traditional albanian clothing but they were not mentioned as such nor were the clothes complete with the typical traditional albanian hat. The ‘plis’ which is a very old, traditional, sort of a wollen hat that albanian men used to wear back in the day, is not exposed in the museum together with the clothing for example. How strange is that I thought. Then when I go downstairs, I finally see a ‘plis’ hat in one of one of the rooms where they were simulating the drowning of a woman ordered by Ali Pasha Tepelena (!) Is this a joke? I thought. As a conclusion, I can’t help but think that the albanian traditional elements were exposed in a negative sense. Coincidence? I think not. I think this kind of nationalism-fueled bias about a man which was not greek to begin with, doesn’t have a place in a respected place such a museum is, and needs to be revised and corrected by a historian immediately. Greece needs to be fair with acknowledging a significant albanian population presence/influence in Epirus before, during and after Ali Pashë Tepelenas reign, and not hide this presence like they have successfully done since this whole region was ceded to Greece in 1913 following the Balkan Wars.

Very well taken care of. Audio information playing in the different rooms and good signs give a clear understanding of the era circumstances and various items on display. Peaceful, almost serene it invited for a relaxing hour on the premises.

I guess you could say this is where the magic of Greece started <3

It was a very good decision to come and visit the island and the museum during our weekend in Ioannina. It was a very nice museum, cery well organized, in a beautiful natural area with flowers, trees, views on the lake area. Entrance 3 euro and boat trip 4 euro both ways, very reasonable. We enjoyed this part. Be careful with the restaurants and baklava sellers they sell a bit like turks and if you dont like that approach you may get upset. One guy told me the baklava was 3.5 euro and when i returned from the museum visit and bought it he said it was 5 (i didnt discuss because i didnt want to ruin the pleasant visit i had). Also in a rastaurant halfway to the museum at arrival the owner said pasta with crawlfish was in offer that day from 12 to 8 euro, at return given the baklava bad experience my wife asked how much it costed before to sit and he said 12, so we moved on and had lunch by the harbour which was reasonable. Bare in mind to ask and reask and make pazar as you may get upset with these guys otherwise.

A small island in the lake in Ioannina. There you can visit the small shops , walk the narrow streets and finally visit the house and museums of Ali pasha. A small summer house that was owned by the Pasha, yet great in historic importance for Greece and Turkey.

Take the boat from Ioannina towards Nisaki island. The museum is very worthy to visit with the guns collection of Ali Pasha and the beautiful traditional Greek dresses collection.