Archodiko Metsovou

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 ...

... it was forbidden to speak Greek. There are about 6 at various places down the rock formations.

Now the bus was not due for another 3 hours and I asked Ian what we were going to do until then and he thought that it would be nice to walk down the hill to the next monastry I did not think that was a good idea as it was sheer cliff face and buses where hurtling up the road taking it all up and I was scared I was going to get knocked off the edge ...

... land train from there to Kallambaka which took 5 hours but went through the most beautiful scenery and countryside hills, mountains little villages. Sat and gazed out the window most of the time and dozed off to sleep and finally got here at 2. We again had no where to stay so for punishment for last night Ian left me to have a cold chocolate milk and he went off looking for somewhere but he is so good at it anyways he came back finding a lovely ...

We move on to Ioaninna. Rained in night & overcast now... not inspiring. As we roll along, however, it starts to brighten up. Good roads and a reasonable journey. Camping turns out to be right on lake, only 1k from town. Sun beats down on us: perfect.
However, dark clouds loom on distant mountains, so we decide to carry macs when we set ...

... views from the ruins over the surrounding countryside.......awesome place!


Once our time was up, we met back at the bus & were taken to the outskirts of the town of Kalambaka, destroyed during WW II, at the foot of the unusual & mighty rock formations the Meteora monasteries were built on, for our overnight hotel stay....lovely place, lovely food, wide, open, airy reception, foyer area....pretty outdoor pool & surrounds.

... begginning they were showing to be good people she and her fiance, so we didn't call the police but in the end we saw no even one cent for the damage they caused from their insurance...anyway, after this small incident our mood was a bit down but as long as the damage was not big we continued our trip...The mountainous air refreshed us until we reached the hot Thessalic plain and Larissa where we went dirrectly to a friend's house as we were destroyed...

Meteora was fun, but somewhat uneventful. We had to be at the bus at 7:45am, when our earliest time yet has been 8:30--doesn't seem like a big difference, but it kind of is. Oh well, we got a chance to sleep on the bus since it was a three hour ride to Meteora. It wasn't that far distance wise, but we had to drive through the mountains and so all the roads were really windy. When we got to the town, we had to drive up the mountains to get to the ...

We departed our train from Athens last night and scored a pretty decent hostel room. After a solid sleep in this morning we finally were able to shove ourselves out of bed and attempt to hit the Monasteries of Meteroa, famous monasteries that sit atop huge rock pinnacles with sheer side straight down to the earth below. Most date from around the 13th and 14th century but are still operating of monasteries today despite the regular flow of ...

... food chain store taste fantastic!












Finally the elevator was repaired and we are able to take a ride up. It is very very small! See, my arm couldn't even extend fully! Overall, it was a very enjoyable two day trip for us!
We get our advise on which trip to join from Reveplanner, works out pretty well for lazy people like me :p

... to sit out on the balcony and take in the sights. It was so pretty and very neat to see the ruins of other monasteries on cliffs in the distance. In the past, the nuns and priests used wooden baskets and ladders to get up to the monasteries. This is how they stayed so secluded, because they would only allow people up there that they wanted up there. The original priests just climbed straight up the cliffs and built the monasteries. We headed down to our bus and drove up ...