Greece - (Old) Sagiada

Sagiada is a quiet coastal fishing village in the northwest of Thesprotia, close to the border with Albania. In its heyday Sagiada was one of the busiest ports of Epirus. Wealthy merchants lived in Old Sagiada, which was built on a hillside above the harbour. During the Turkish occupation Ali Pasha - an Ottoman Albanian ruler who served as pasha of Epirus and the western parts of Thessaly and Greek Macedonia - talked with Napoleon in Sagiada, trying to get assistance for his military campaigns.

Old Sagiada was burnt down in 1943 by Albanian cohorts (known as Tsamides) of the Germans. The inhabitants fled to the coast and never came back to rebuild the village. The only building which was restored after the war by the villagers is the Agios Georgios church. It stands in the middle of the ruins on a kind of village square.
The ruins covered with ivy are the only other reminders of the past nowadays.

When we visited the ghost village a cow along the main road was the only living creature we encountered.