Antoniadis Kalambaka

We flew to Metéora today to see the Monasteries. The flight didn't take very long at all, less than an hour. We essentially followed a highway, the E 90 all the way there. It was an amazingly beautiful flight. We flew over Lake Ioannina and through a mountain pass where we followed a river and the highway to another narrow pass near a valley with Lake Aoos at the north end of it. From here we just followed the river ...

... we only had gyros for tea not sure if I have explained gyros before but Ian is so addicted to it, its pitta bread with chicken or pork in it tomatoes, tziki and chips!!!! All rolled up it is tasty but some places are better than others Ian has had it so much I said he is going to be massive if he carrys on eating it. Its the Greek equivalent to fast food. We also had some candy floss from one of the street sellers at the rally and then went off to bed.<br><br>

... do need to shop around even a local that we spoke to last night in Athens said that they now only go out once a month instead of once a week as its so expensive. Global economy effecting everyone.<br><br>Went out for a lovely meal in a local taverna I had pastitio which is like a macaroni bake with mince and cheese very tasy oh and had fried cheese again lol Ian had stuffed aubergine it was tasty as well the we went back to the room for sleep sleep.

<br><br>Stunning setting: Meteora is an area with fantabulous outcrops of rock, smooth, sculpted almost, on top of which have been built these extraordinary monasteries. Access was only by dangling ropes, way back - for security purposes. How they hauled up the building materials staggers the imagination! Thankfully, the road goes all the way up them all, now. We scoot around them, preferring to view from ...

... ranges.<br><br><br><br>Despite what other English-speaking tourists &amp; ourselves agreed seemed a disorganised start to the day, the Greeks remained fairly laid-back about proceedings, and we relaxed into what we guessed was the norm for them!<br><br><br><br><br>Once we arrived at the ruins of Delphi, amid some wonderful scenery up &amp; down mountainous roadways, with huge valleys appearing at every turn, we were once again blown away by the ...

... more when they find out he is not really a real man. <br> Sad story but creepy dude, it's not about the broken penis it's about being creepy and telling everyone upon first meeting them about your dead penis. We got three seperate beds at least and a fancy hotel with a free continental breakfast that they tried to charge us for, for eating too much. He was getting creepy and annoying so we pretended to go to sleep he sat up in the dark for a while ...

... looked hungry but had no food. <br>After wandering through the Sanctuary we had a drink at a restaurant that had an amazing view of the area. Sat there for awhile before catching our long bus and obscure bus ride. Yesterday we had researched the shortest way to go to Kalambaka, and the different sites told us to take a bus to Lamia and then bus it to Kalambaka. Instead our bus ride took us to Amfissa, then we took ...

So we left Santorini on our early flight to Athens hoping to catch a train up to Kalambaka, located at the base of Meteora.  Once we made it to the train station in the core of Athens, we were informed that the train was full.  We quickly hailed a cab for the bus terminal and on the way our driver made a generous offer to drive us all the way to Kalambaka for only 250 euros!  We politely declined (after ...

... a bit by the fact that we arrived in the middle of the two-hour siesta, when the monastery is closed. After sweltering for a few minutes and consoling ourselves with some of the pastries from Le Ponte, we realized that the cave area, which is separate from the "moni" would probably be open. And it was. I was underwhelmed by the cave, which goes back several meters into the rock of the mountain but is low and not very wide. It's full ...

... town of Kalambaka . Rooms are large with excellent bathrooms and firm beds. All have extensive views over the countryside. The whole property is very clean. It has a large public area for meals with a nice fireplace. Arseniou prepares for us a BBQ of pork and chicken, washed down by local wine. He is very informative about the surroundings and provides excellent free maps of the monasteries for our visits tomorrow.