Kalambaka -- September 15

We got up very early for our arranged taxi to take us from Bitola across the border into Greece and on to Kalambaka to visit the monasteries at Meteora. Transport across the border is tricky here, so we were advised the arranged taxi is the way to go. Friendly Dimitar and Biljana met us at 6am for the trip to Greece.

Although concerned there could be issues at the border due to not-so-friendly relations between Greece and Macedonia, we crossed the border with no delays. In fact, we were thrilled as we both received Macedonia exit and Greece entry stamps in our passports!

We arrived in Kalambaka around 10:30am and fairly easily were able to find our accommodation -- Elena Guesthouse. We checked in and were very impressed with the beautiful room and bathroom that we got for 55 euros/night. We freshened up and quickly headed up to the monasteries.

Arrival in Kalambaka is breathtaking as the first thing you see are the huge stone monoliths guarding the town. Even if there were no monasteries perched at the top, it would still be an incredibly impressive sight. Before figuring out how to get to the monasteries, we needed some cappucinos. We stopped at a cafe near the bus station, and were horrified when the bill for 2 cappucinos came to 6 euros! At first we thought it was a mistake, but then realized we are now back in a "western" country and prices are set accordingly.

We hopped on a bus to Kastraki which is nearer to the monasteries and then took a cab to the Great Meteora Monastery. Today there are 6 monasteries that can be visited here, but our taxi driver told us there used to be 24. Many were destroyed during past wars and the foundations of many can still be seen atop some of the spires.

One thing to keep in mind -- although the monasteries are connected by road, each one requires a challenging uphill climb to get to the monastery. Viewing the pictures shows you why -- they are each perched almost impossibly on the tippy-top of these incredible rock formations. The other thing that was a bit of a shock were the mass quantities of other tourists. They were coming in by the bus load, which often made viewing the interiors of the monasteries (chapels, etc) difficult. However, we persevered and managed to visit 4 of the 6 monasteries. Now back to the Great Monastery.

After the strenous uphill walk, we were treated to amazing views across the rocks, as well as the amazing frescos inside the monastery. After our visit here, we made the short downhill walk to our next monastery -- Varlaam. This one is perched almost as high up as the "Great" one, and was all the more interesting as it is accessed by a wooden bridge spanning the gap. Inside again were beautiful well-preserved frescos.

We were up for a challenge so we decided to walk to the next monastery that was open today -- Agia Trias. This monastery was a good 4 km hike and was extremely isolated not only because it is a good distance away from the others, but access is much more difficult than the other monasteries -- and recall access to the others isn't easy! Along the hike there were many panoramic views that showed even more dramatic perspectives on the rocks and monasteries. In some ways, it appears the churches were saw in Ohrid had been transplanted here, the difference being instead of on a picturesque lakefront, they are now perched dizzyingly atop these amazing monoliths. It is truly amazing to comprehend that monks built these monasteries hundreds of years ago. Maybe they had help from beings from another planet?
To access Agia Trias there was a very steep hike down and then a very very steep hike up to the monastery. After sweating bullets and cursing more than we should, we reached the monastery. We were rewarded with a monastery basically to ourselves – the hoards from the tour buses don't make it here. We climbed up to the top for rewarding views, and Efren got to ring some bells.

Anyway, at this point we were completed exhausted and decided to skip the final monastery – Agios Stefanos. As we had walked quite a way from where the cab had dropped us off this morning, we were relieved to find a foot path that lead directly from Agia Trias directly to Kalambaka (in fact, very near to our hotel). The 1km hike was very steep but took us along a shady forested path, so that was a nice change from the road. We also bumped into several large tortoises on the way down.

We reached the hotel and took a quick shower before wandering into town for dinner. We stopped at Café Panetillion, right on the main square. We did the "Greek" thing ordering roasted feta cheese, a greek salad, pastitsio, and pork souvlaki. All excellent, and tasted even better getting washed down with local Mythos beer. We walked through the town a bit after dinner and stopped for some coffee and baklava. The baklava was unbelievable – even Efren who previously didn’t like baklava liked this stuff.

After such a long and strenuous day, we hit the sack early. Since we had since much of Meteora today, we weren’t sure what we’d plan to do tomorrow, we decided to sleep on it….

Kalambaka and Athens -- September 16

After sleeping in, we grabbed breakfast at Elena’s and decided to pay a visit to the monastery that was closed yesterday – Roussaniou. We decided to take a taxi from Kalambaka directly to Roussaniou for 6 euros. The monastery was similar to the previous ones visited – a steep ascent followed by beautiful frescos inside the church. Roussniou is very popular with tour buses, so we had to wait to see the frescos. At this monastery the frescos were particularly brutal.

We decided we hadn’t walked enough yesterday and figured we could do the 1km mostly downhill hike to Agios Nikolaus monastery – the one closest to Kastraki and we figured after the visit we could walk down to Kastraki and get a bus back to Kalambaka. We were afforded amazing views on this walk (the lighting and our angle were just right). However, all of a sudden it began to rain. Nothing too heavy at first, but enough to make walking along an exposed road uncomfortable. We ducked under some trees to try and wait it out. We became concerned as the rain got heavier and we realized that the chance of seeing any good views from Agios Nikolaus was slim in the rain. We decided to hope a taxi would pass by and take us to town.

About 15 min later a taxi drove by, and as it was full we figured it would keep going. However, much to our surprise the cab pulled over and told us to get in. The driver and the 2 locals in the car didn’t want us to get wet, so we ended up sharing the taxi with these folks back to Kalambaka.

At this point it was about 12 noon. Our original plans were to stay in Kalambaka one more night, but with the rain and the fact that we had seen most of the monasteries, we thought it might makes sense to move on to Athens one day sooner than planned. We headed back to the hotel and got on the internet and learned that our hotel in Athens, the Marriott Ledra, had discounted rooms available for tonight. We booked the hotel and then walked to the train station to buy tickets for the direct Kalambaka-Athens train departing at 5:30pm.

We spent the rest of the afternoon eating again at Café Panetillion, this time sampling the stuffed peppers and tomatoes and lemon chicken and doing some shopping. We went back to the hotel to tell Elena we’d be leaving early. We offered to pay for the night as we had reserved it and had stayed in the room all afternoon. She was very sweet and in exchange for our paying for the room with no protests, she offered to pay for the taxi for us to get to the train station.

We arrived at the train station a bit early – and just hung out for awhile. The rain had stopped and it had gotten very warm again. We boarded the comfortable train for our 4.5 hour journey to Athens. Very few folks got on at Kalambaka, but the train filled quickly with passengers from subsequent stops. About 1 hour into the journey, we were treated to a marvelous sunset while traversing the terrain of central Greece. The landscape alternated between cotton fields and rough mountains. There were few big cities until we arrived on the outskirts of Athens around 10pm.

Upon arrival in Athens we decided to dive right in and use the Metro. We easily got from the Larissa Train Station to the Syngrou-Fix Metro station, but from there it was a 1km walk on a busy highway to the Marriott. It took us awhile, but eventually we flagged down a taxi. Taxis in Athens are notorious for ripping off passengers, so we did our best to be cautious. The driver asked where we were going, and Craig said the “Marriott”. The driver seemed ok with that and started his meter (often part of the cab driver’s scam is to say the meter isn’t working and then overcharge). We loaded our luggage and once seated in the cab Efren confirmed the drop-off location. The driver then proceeded to have a total hissy-fit – apparently somehow he thought Craig said we were heading to “Piraeus”, which is the port where most ferries to the Greek Isles depart. Seems as though this was a much more desireable ride than the 1km to the Marriott. The driver carried on like an idiot and we offered to have him let us out to make up for the confusion. He pressed on and dropped us off at the hotel. We were a bit concerned that he might really react negatively (drive away with our bags, etc) because he was REALLY ******. At the end he sort of apologized and just said he was “disappointed”. Oh well. Craig is just getting used to being yelled at – first by the nun at Gracanica and now by the cabbie in Athens…

After a not-so-hot introduction to Athens, we were relieve to check into our hotel and experience a strong shower, a bathroom with counterspace, beds that were comfortable, etc. We walked up the street and grabbed a quick bite for dinner and were off to bed. We couldn’t wait to explore Athens the next day!