Bizantine wonders
Trip Start
Jul 07, 2008
1
14
34
Trip End
Aug 05, 2008
Meteora,
Thessaly,
Greece
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Jakby ktos nie wierzyl, ze Meteory mozna przejsc na piechote w 1 dzien, to my jestesmy tego zywym przykladem.
Pierwsi mnisi osiedlali sie w tym regionie juz w X wieku. Mieszkali wtedy w jaskiniach. Potem, wg legendy, w XIV w. odkryl to miejsce sw. Anastazy, ktory zlecial na skrzydlach orla na jeden z meteorow (z gr."meteora" -"zawieszony w powietrzu") i zalozyl tam pierwszy klasztor.
Wyszlismy przez Kalambake, skrecilismy na szlak dla pieszych i wspielismy sie ze 200m w gore, na pierwszy monastyr - Agia Triada. Malutki klasztor, z olsniewajacym widokiem na Kalambake. Niestety, w srodku zadnego z obiektow nie mozna robic zdjec. Nastepnie doszlismy do Agios Stephanos, czyli klasztoru sw. Szczepana. Wstep do kazdego z monastyrow kosztuje 2 Euro (nie ma zadnych znizek), a jest ich szesc. Nastepnie dotarlismy do klasztorow Varlaam i Metamorphosis (dwa najwieksze i moim zdaniem najlepsze), by na koncu zobaczyc Roussanou. Niestety, ostatni obiekt - Agios Nikolaos Anapafkas - byl juz zamkniety, gdy dotarlismy na miejsce. Jestesmy bohaterami i czujemy ten fakt najbardziej w nogach :o)
1a.byzantine monastery. We climbed all of them!
. Zatoczylismy petle 20km. A wszystko to - na sniadaniu skladajacym siez dwoch kanapek dla każdego i sporej ilości wody. Marzylam przez pol zycia, zeby zobaczyc to miejsce i warto bylo. Gdybym miala do wyboru obejrzec tylko 1 rzecz w Grecji, po wszystkim co zobaczylam do tej pory, zdecydowanie wybralabym Meteory. Gdy wracalismy juz na kemping, zahaczylismy o Lidl i zrobilismy zakupy. Pani recepcjonistka dziwnie sie na nas patrzyla, gdy siedzielismy przy stole, palaszujac litr (!) lodow i zagryzajac to rogalikami czekoladowymi. Po prysznicach, wieczorem musielismy jeszcze przejsc 2km na dworzec kolejowy w Kalambace. Nasze ciuchy ponownie smierdza :P Pociagi sa tu naprawde tansze. Za taki odcinek, jaki przejechalismy tamtego wieczoru, za autokar zaplacilisbysmy 12-16Euro/2 os. A pociagkosztowal nas tylko... 5Euro/2 os. Dojechalismy do stacji przesiadkowej, z ktorej nasz nastepny pociag do Leptokarii odjeżdżał nastepnego dnia rano, a ktora byla na totalnym zad...piu. Poszlismy nocowac na jakies pole. Miejsce zyskalo nr 1 w rankingu najbardziej niewygodnych miejsc do spania. Pomine juz ziemie, ktora byla zabojczo nierowna. Najgorsze byly jednak wszedobylskie komary. Noc byla jak zwykle goraca i jak zwykle nie rozlozylismy namiotu - tym razem to byl blad. Zeby uchronic się przed atakiem komarow, zaszywales sie calutki w spiworze i w tym momencie czules sie jak w saunie. W momencie, gdy na chwile sie odkrywales, probujac zaczerpnac powietrza, te male bestie atakowaly z jakby podwojona sila
1-byzantine monastery. We climbed all of them!
. I tak przez cala noc. Co za koszmar! ENGLISH:
If somebody would not like to believe, that you can actually walk all around Meteora within one day, we are an example of people who really did it.
First monks had settled here in this area already in the 10th century. They used to live in caves then. Later on, in the 14th century, according to a legend, this place was discovered by St. Anastasius, that flew down on eagles wings on one of the Meteoras (meteora in Greek means "hung in the air") and found the first monastery there.
We walked through Kalambaka and turned towards the walking patch, which was pretty much about climbing about 200m up the mountain, to the first cloister - Agia Triada. It was a tiny monastery with a stunning view at Kalambaka. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take pictures inside of any of the monasteries. Then we walked towards Agios Stephanos, which is St. Stephens cloister. The entrance to each monastery costs 2 Euros (there`s no discounts), and there is six of them. Afterwards we went to the monasteries Varlaam and Metamorphosis (these two are the biggest ones and in my opinion the best ones, too) and eventually we saw Roussanou. Unfortunately, the last monastery - Agios Nikolaos Anapafkas - was already closed when we got there. We are the heroes and we can feel that fact mostly in our legs :o). We made a loop of 20km. And we did it on 2 sandwiches for breakfast each plus lots of water. I`d been dreaming to see that place for half of my lifetime and it was well worth it
2-byzantine monastery. We climbed all of them!
. If I had only one thing to be chosen to see in Greece, after all of these places I`ve seen so far, it would definitely be Meteora. On our way back to the camp site, we stopped by at Lidl supermarket and did some shopping. The receptionist at our camping stared at us in a bizarre way while we were sitting at the table and eating 1l (!) of ice cream altogether with chocolate croissants.In the evening, after showers, we had to walk with our backpacks to the railway station in Kalambaka. Our clothes have become stinky again :P And the trains are much cheaper than the buses here indeed. For the route we did that evening, we would have paid about 12-16 Euros/2 ppl for the bus. And for the train we it was only... 5 Euros/2 ppl. We arrived at the station where we were supposed to change for Leptokaria in the morning of the following day and which was in the absolute middle of nowhere. We went to sleep in a field. The place has won No.1 in our rank of the most incredibly uncomfortable places to sleep in. I`m not going to complain too much about the ground here, which was unbelievably rough. The worst though were mosquitoes. The night was as hot as usually, and as usually we wouldn`t pitch the tent up, which was a mistake this time. In order to protect yourself from the mosquitoes attack, you`d hide totally in your sleeping bag and at that moment you would feel as if you were in a sauna. At the moment when you`d open your sleeping bag in order to breathe some fresh air, these little beasts would start attacking you with a double power. And it would be like this all night long. What a nightmare!
