Day 9 Arrival in Greece & Meteora

Arrived at Ignomenitsou at dawn, and rode a giant purple bus across Greece’s new highway. Lots of beautiful mountain passes, switchback roads with little or no guard rails. Rentar warned us “…don’t look down and you’ll be fine.” Eventually we came to a part where the highway split near Ioannia where we had to take a mountain road, known to the locals as “The Curse”. Stopped in the middle of nowhere at a really cool overlook.

During the winter time, the only thing that sticks out are two sets of metal poles (green & red) so that the buses and cars know where the road is. Another interesting aspect about Greek roads is about every mile or so, there are Greek Orthodox shrines or icons that are boxed near the side of the road. These seem to vary in appearance and décor. I was lucky enough to snap this shot out the window of the moving bus and got lucky with the timing of the shot.

Here are some other shots along our ride of "the curse".

Looks like I'll have to put Greece up there on my list of some of the prettiest ground I've ever had the pleasure to cross over. We sort of timed the morning mist with the rising sun just right in some of these shots. I often found myself wanting the bus driver to just pull over for short 2-3 minute photo ops, but I always had to take these shots through the glass, when the sun was on the far side of the bus to reduce glare. While this didn't always work, but every now and then I got a pretty decent shot or two.

Eventually we arrived in Kalabacca, which is a quaint town that lies at the foot of Meteora, which means “rocks suspended in air”. It is a one of a kind rock formation that is unlike any other in the world. Once a series of ancient islands, they were formed 60 million years ago. Geologically speaking, they are a unique formation unlike anywhere else on earth. Very few ancient islands remain intact or show the erosion such as these rocks do. A few years ago, when I asked Gus Nicholas, a family friend who’s been to Greece many times over where I should visit, Gus insisted I see this place. When we asked EF if they did tours to this place in Fall of 2006, they didn't seem to know much about the place. Well Gus, you were right on about having to check this place out. It was one of the highlights of my trip!

Throughout the rocks can be found 6 major monasteries, some of which are accessible by road, but in the old days had rope ladders or pulley elevators to hoist supplies and visitors. During the early days of Christendom, many sought refuge in the honeycombed rocks for religious study and reflection.

Various mystics and saints of the Orthodox religion came to Meteoria for its seclusion and isolated caves/caverns. It is easy to see where the monks might have made their homes in the honeycombed hillsides.

We had some free time before checking into our rooms, so I decided to head towards the foothills of the giant rocks. Eventually as I wound my way through the town, I got some good daily life shots until I came across a sign that said foot path. By the time I got up the path it soon became time to turn back, so I got what pics I could which wasn’t much I’m afraid.

This was the view from our hotel, which was again top-notch! You can see the balcony railing in the shot. Way to book 'em EF! Meer and I felt like VIPs again. We then went to a fantastic lunch place where we each ordered different entrees and then shared them with each other. Meer got lamb, I got beef stew, and I think Stacie got some sort of Veal maybe? Anyway, Greek food totally rocked. During the rest of my time in Greece whenever possible I ordered lamb and was never disappointed.

We climbed up various flights of stairs to climb inside one of these monasteries, however no pictures were allowed inside. The artwork and ornate decorations of the Orthodox churches was quite impressive. Again, lots of glorification of martyrs and those who were killed for the faith could be found painted all over the walls of the entrance to each of the churches. One monastery had 16 nuns that still live and take care of the place.

Some of the pics may look washed out, but it was overcast, cloudy and then eventually started to rain. This was the first time during the trip the weather actually played a factor. I was a bit bummed, but within half an hour the rain broke and the sun came back out. Rentar just keep muttering to us, “You guys don’t know how lucky we are to have this weather… It should be a lot hotter than it is now.” So he was right, the rain kept the temps down, and manageable for this Pennsylvania boy.

Our guide was pretty decent this day, and she was able to answer lots of questions about the churches and things of that nature. The 2^nd monastery we got to visit was one that was perched above the town. In fact we were able to see it from our hotel’s balcony. The view over the plains of Thessaly was quite amazing, and stretched as far as the eye could see.

Theo being a native of Greece turned out to be a real asset, being able to comment on virtually any question or concern we had for him. We also learned that as of July 1^st, Greece was going to officially outlaw smoking indoors at public places such as restaurants, bars, etc. Unfortunately we missed this cut off by mere days.

Getting back, we had chicken dinner again, and then we had some time to do some sidewalk shopping. Taught Rentar how to play BS poker, and hung out on the balcony admiring the view. The town lights up the rocks at night, but by about 11:30 PM some of the nearby local neighbors walked over to our balcony and complained we should go to sleep so we had to shut it down and vacate.

I was still hungry, so we went to a local Gyro type place and had some delicious food. Greece is very keen on a white sauce made from yogurt called Tajiki? I’m no fan of yogurt, but this stuff was pretty tasty on their food. Found a cool place that had outdoor couches near a fountain. Meer splashed water on my back as we were walking home past it, which made me turn, run, and stub my toe. (Toe injuries plague my history, and apparently Europe is no different in that regard) Damn Meer.