Meteora (Μετέωρα) is a complex of Eastern Orthodox Monasteries in Greece build on incredible sandstone pillars.Kalambaka/Kalabaka/Καλαμπάκα is the nearest nearby town, located in central Greece.
All in attendance: David and Kristen
David and I flew out of the Santorini Airport to Athens. The airport in Santorini is barely bigger than the average Canadian living room. It was our first rainy day in our trip so we were lucky that it was a traveling day. When we arrived at the train station, we found out that we could save 15 € if we took the last train of the day. "OK done deal!" And this is where our luck ran out.
Cue: hours of wasted time in a coffee shop, internet cafe, and grocery store. Cue: the purgatory of traveling.
Here is where the shit show starts: cue 2 broken train engines, taking over 2 hours to leave Athens, light outage on the train, stalling on the tracks, no English announcements or passengers who could explain what was happening in English, fear for missing our connection, everyone spontaneous leaving the train and then getting back on the train and a bemused conversation with an equally frustrated French couple. Who knew Athens - such a major tourist destination - had so little English! Stops are also unannounced and there was a lack of signage and light at the stations so we were concerned almost the whole time about missing our stop.
We arrived in Kalambaka 5 hours late, in the dead of night. I found a campground (10€/night) for us to stay with bungalows online and they were kind enough to pick us up. Overall mood was a bit bitter, sour and frustrated but we had arrived after a long day to a cozy bungalow.
We slept in the next day and went back into town for me to argue our tickets for a refund - which oddly enough I had to do in German, not English. It was strange to find out that in this small town, the majority of the taxi drivers, hotel workers and train station employees were more comfortable speaking German than English. We bought our return tickets for our train back to Athens - with no seat reservation since the train was booked full already.
We took a taxi up to the largest Meteora monastery, the Holy Monastery of Great Meteoron. I brought a big scarf to wrap around as a skirt which was still too hot for the scorching Greek sun.
Inside were tidbits on the history of the monasteries - mostly about how they were defended from the invading Ottomans.
We walked along the road, snacking on fruit and carrying not enough water to a few of the other Monasteries as well. Some of them have awkward opening hours so we were not able to see them all. No matter since the real beauty was the atmosphere, landscape and the way the buildings seem impossibly perched upon these surreal cliffs which seem to grow suddenly from the ground. The cliffs of the monasteries are really unique too - it seems like they are the only cliffs within eye shot which are formed like that.
We got a feel for what it was like in the Monasteries. They were more modern that I expected, with stone walls and red tile roofs but they were still beautiful. There were lots of rooms with everything from art to an old winery inside. Churches inside the monasteries were elegant and adorned in gold details - photos were not permitted there.
You could also buy wine made by the monks here too but due to apathy/heat/extra weight, we held off.
There are small hiking trails which link some of the monasteries together which was much nicer (and shadier) to walk on rather than the hot asphalt road. By the time we walked back into town, we were exhausted and drained from a day out in the sun.
The next day was filled with some nice downtime where we had no more obligations to do anything but snack on treats, relax and play with the cats at the campground. We took a train leaving Kalambaka that evening, direct to Athens where we stayed one last night in Greece before leaving to the Turkey portion of our trip.
Things I learned:
- Greece has some astounding mountains
- Greeks seem more likely to speak German than English
- Greeks trains are the pits - they make trenitalia seem punctual
- Learn to climb - there are great places to rock climb nearby
- Go to the nearby Perama Cave
