Meteora, Greece

I woke early as the bed is not designed for a princess like myself, I must have woken about 5 times last night being hot and uncomfortable. I thought I would do some blogging but my iPad was just about flat and I could not find the power adapter plug. Yesterday at our one stop over we plugged it in at the cafe and both Vern and I remember unplugging it and Vern wound up the lead, and I was sure I put the plug in my bag. I don’t know if I pulled it out last night and the land lady picked it up when she brought us a mozzie zapper (I was going to charge it last night but we headed out for dinner) but this morning it was no where to be seen. When I went out to make an early cuppa the breakfast lady was able to give me one from a stash in the drawer which was great – so I was able to give this a good charge today while we were out.

I made a coffee and as the lady was organised early we got to eat before everyone else at 8:00. It was a good spread with cereals including the yummy cluster muesli with chocolate we had in the Netherlands, boiled eggs, toast, mortadella, cheese singles and fruit. Breakfast is included in our room rate which is nice and convenient. The coffee was very good filter so I enjoyed two mugs – yeah more stairs today! When we got back to the room we saw Lili had tried to SKYPE so we called back and had a quick catch up – its neat to be able to show someone where you are especially the dramatic views from the balcony! We had a tight schedule today as we are heading back to Athens this evening so we had to be checked out before the tour we had booked picked us up at 0900. We chose a new company and for €25 each we got a four hour tour of the Meteora rocks including time to go inside two of the Monastery’s. There was a driver and a guide – Dimitri who was very good – informative and warm. The vehicle was a really nice new Mercedes mini van with cream leather and walnut veneer in abundance with gold coloured trim.

Meteora can be translated to mean “middle of the sky” or “suspended in the air”. The world heritage site is a group of 6 Monasteries that are built on top of rocky sandstone pillars or pinnacles up to 550m on the edge of a plain – once thought to be a lake bed. As early as the 9th century the first monks that inhabited these unique formations lived in hollows and fissures in the rock towers. It wasn’t until the 11th-13th century that the first buildings were established. Access originally was difficult with long ladders lashed together or large nets used to haul goods or people. Apparently ropes were only replaced “when the Lord let them break”. Six monasteries remain today, 4 inhabited by men, and 2 by women. They generally have no more than 14 inhabitants.

Note the tonnes of rocks used to build the monastery are from the other side of the valley as the rocky outcrops themselves are too weak, being almost like concrete layers.

There is a very good road up the rocks which was built about 13 years ago. As you wind your way up you get a totally different and enchanting perspective of the site – which is world heritage listed. There are steps and stairways as well and one I counted 180 from the car park to the top so it was another work out day today. The exercise is one thing – I don’t do heights and little bridges over huge drops so well, or going up steps on the edge of a cliff. Vernon is kindly indulgent and encourages me along, giving me support with his hand as required which is nice. Its when he offers to take a picture of me near the edge of something that we disagree ….

Our guide also took us to key look out points, two of which involved a bit of rock climbing to the top and edge of some out crops. Vern loves these. I think they are for eagles and mountain goats. One I didn’t really want to go up but he persuaded me that I did, so I hope you appreciate the panoramic shots. It was so hairy the guide had to help everyone up and down one point! The photo of the two of us is on this rock, which is about 640m above sea level and around 450 above the town.

We went inside two of the Monastery, Varlaam which is the second largest with monks and Rousanou which is inhabited by nuns. They only let you in an entry, a shop, and basically the chapels – and charged you €3 each for the pleasure which I thought was a bit steep. You aren’t allowed to take photos inside which I think is more to sell books and postcards than protecting the art as you could ban flashes like other attractions. The two chapels were small, cute, and painted floor to ceiling in the Byzantine style. I can’t say I found it particularly moving although some other visitors of faith did. I did appreciate how it must be a real calling to live in such a life style.

It was a great tour, the scenery was other world like and hearing a bit about the history and imagining how they must have built these structures and want to live in them like eagles nests is fascinating. Speaking of birds we saw a black stork up there (very rare) and apparently the last 4 white Egyptian Vultures live there somewhere.

When it was over we got dropped directly in town at a restaurant that Dimitri recommended. Bingo – our second superb meal here. It was beautifully decorated with treasures from swords to coins to tapestry and everything in-between. We were welcomed by the host and taken to the kitchen to meet mama and see what the menu was. The kitchen was spotless and mama was 70 if not older. The menu was shown to us in huge 60cm round shallow pots over a warming section and proudly described by mama (who is the chef) in quite good english. We chose chicken in special wine sauce served with eggplant, peas and rice, lamb with beans, peas and potatoes and a piece of Pastitsio (meat pie with macaroni layer and cheese custard on top). To wash it down we got a light beer and lemonade. The idea was you looked at the food and told them what you wanted and the waiter would then bring it over.

It was really nice – homely, but beautifully seasoned. The lamb was tender fall off the bone (got served a big piece bone and all from the shoulder I think) without being dry or stringy. And the chicken quarter was the same. The portions were huge but somehow we managed to eat it all! The taverna style meal is cooked long and slow and everything is very tender (veges probably over cooked but still nice) and clearly a lot of olive oil is used. Real comfort food at its best. Lunch all up €35

After lunch/dinner we wandered around town trying to find a supermarket to buy a snack for our long train trip back to Athens which left at 5:35 due in Athens 10:30pm. Most shops are shut unless its an eating place – not sure if it is siesta or just early shut? Eventually we found a small superette and grabbed some yoghurts, a couple of juices and then we found a bakery and got a borek type pastry (filo swirl stuffed with spinach and cheese). Man was it warm – I saw a temperature reading of 29 degrees on a chemist shop in the partial shade, but I am sure it was more than that with the heat trapped between the buildings and reflecting off the white pavement and road.

Sweaty and tired we made it back to our lodging to get our bags and took up the offer to make ourselves a cup of tea and used the internet for a bit before our train departed. Pleased to say the air-conditioning was working on the train which made the journey so much more pleasant. It also was a direct run which was a bonus as it was not direct on the schedule we had seen previously which meant we got into Athens at 10.30pm.

Our plan was to grab a cab to Syntagma square about 3km away and then get the airport bus X95 to the Sofitel so we would be nice and close to the airport in the morning for our flight to Santorini. Buses to the airport are €8 each verses a taxi of around €60 that time of night. At the cab rank there was a bit of a queue and it didn’t seem to be moving along very fast. We then saw a couple of armed police checking the cab’s paperwork down the line. This was taking ages as some were clearly having trouble finding their documentation. I didn’t really mind the delay as the look of some of the drivers and cabs was not the best…. As we were lined up there was an older small Greek woman that was trying to jump the queue. We tried blocking her but she started up in Greek and engaged the people in front of us who were Greek senior woman; her daughter our age and fluffy dog. This was a classic example of a prevalent belligerent and rude attitude towards foreigners that we are picking up on here – accordingly why we asserted our place in the line to more of a barrage of harsh Greek. In the end I gave in, and said to Vern to let it go – really one place in the line that she gained was not a biggie (although she did try to get further) – but I made sure I voiced my opinion clearly and somewhat colourfully. I have to say that the polite and friendly Greeks are far and few between – not an endearing culture or people at all.

After about a 20 minute wait we finally got a taxi and our 15 minute ride through a still busy Athens city at 11pm cost us a mere €3.80. Athens city looks very unsafe in parts and I am glad we did not try to navigate it at night. As we got dropped off at Syntagma we saw the X95 about to leave and move forward slightly. Darn – not sure when next one was due, probably hourly at that time of night, but our driver yelled out for us to get the bus drivers attention and he stopped and let us on which was really appreciated. The ride to the airport takes about 45 minutes even in non peak traffic so it was a pretty late night by the time we got to fall into our soft Sofitel bed.