Returning to Meteora......what a total joy.......I have not travelled extensively; "locally" I've been to New Zealand a couple of times and I've lived in New Guinea of course...As for overseas I've been to Singapore, Egypt, Italy, France and Ireland once each and the UK and Greece now twice.....so yes I am by no means a world weary traveller and perhaps therefore should hold judgement, but on this second visit to Meteora it has been confirmed as my favourite place on earth bar home........there is just something so incredibly mystical and peaceful about the place that infuses your spirit with calm and wonder. There is no surprise at all in it being a place chosen for so many monasteries as it exudes spirituality and our visit was WAY too short......I am now determined to actually come back yet again in my lifetime so that I can see these rocks again and just breathe the air and absorb the peace once more.......Honestly this place touches me as does no other.....it is something about the majesty of the rocks as they strain towards the sky, the monasteries atop giving substance to mankind's desire to strive for
heaven.....it has nothing really to do with organised religion per se, though of course the monasteries are.....but the tradition of religious communities in the area began, as our FABULOUS sunset tour guide told us, with a lone hermit whom tradition says was a roman soldier but no-one really knows. He eked out a life in a cave way up on a cliff face dependant on the alms of the villagers delivered via a lowered basket. Call me crazy but to me that is such a romantic idea, for someone to devote their life to solitary devotion and be prepared to suffer such deprivation.....to just be meditating, praying, thinking, however one would describe it.....ALL the time, it's amazing and yet more hermits joined him. They were in their own caves, as there are so very many huge rocks and caves about, but then eventually they organised and built a church to share occasional worship in.....and then it grew from there.
Apparently the hermitages were still used by the monks from the monasteries of Meteroa when they needed a retreat, right up until the 19th century....as the area became more accessible and more people visited the area, the solitude aspect of living in a cave on the side of a rock mountain obviously disappeared and so the hermitages became less used. As for now, apparently the area is too touristy even within the monasteries for the majority of the monks. This makes sense I guess given they have signed up for the monastic life and want serenity, space and separation from the hustle and bustle to pray and meditate......a few million tourists a year may have an impact on that! So most of the monasteries at Meteora now only have one or two caretaker monks who have local helpers to aid in the general running of them, accommodating the daily visitors with things like ticketing etc. Most monks now apparently want to be in the Mount Athos area (up past Thessaloniki I think) which is a lot more restrictive about visitors and indeed to this day no women are allowed on the peninsula area of the monasteries there at all.....apparently Meteora was like that also until the 1920's when the first responders to a monastery fire were some local village women.....given the choice of burning or letting women in to assist, the monks wisely chose the latter and henceforth the restrictions were lifted..... It was interesting, and may I add a welcome surprise, to see they have guard rails ALL the way up the mountain roads to all the monasteries now. It was quite the hairy ride on my last trip here, especially with a Greek taxi driver who, without ANY exaggeration I promise, was smoking, drinking coffee AND pointing out monasteries to us and telling us stuff about them whilst driving us up the mountain switchbacks at what seemed a VERY reckless pace.....with no guardrails!!! So yes, nice to see some in place and they have done a fantastic and thoughtful job on them too as they are all made of gorgeous rock and stone so don't look at all out of place......or ruin your photos as Gwendols so succinctly put it! It was lovely to stay in Kastraki again also though what a shock as it has
grown SO much to be almost unrecognisable. Twelve years ago there were limited eatery choices and as for accommodation it was mainly just "rooms" in homes in the village. They are equivalent to a bed and breakfast scenario though with quite a few rooms per place and they
would maybe have a roof top garden or out front taverna/cafe attached. If you wanted more than that Kalambaka is just over the hill with hotels aplenty......now Kastraki is bursting at the seams with hotels, tavernas and the like.....amazingly it doesn't appear to have changed
the village though. English is still very limited and some people we encountered didn't speak it at all so whilst checking out rooms I got to really polish off my rusty Greek and discover it coming back......maybe it's like the saying about riding a bike! I have been determined to try
to speak Greek where possible on this trip as, for all my study before my last trip, I was really too chicken then to try it much apart from, funnily enough, in Kastraki. We have found that between the two of us, and GJ is picking it up left, right and centre too!, we can easily make
ourselves understood enough to ask the questions.....and then the hard part.......understand the replies! All part of the travel experience and definitely not to be missed......I was very sorry to leave Meteora behind but yes I will return again.......

(L) Another hotel breakfast spread, they all seem to offer the same sort of things. Then a quick drive up to see the view and get a bit closer to the monasteries, with the Sunset tour booked tonight we aren't spending too long up there this morning as we have to go into Kalambaka to find an ATM, seems no-one has eftpos facilities in Kastraki and even in Monodendri we had to pay cash for everything. I managed to use the ATM with no problem as there is a button to select your language which I thought was fantastic, not sure that we give foreign tourist those options in Australia. Unfortunately it spat out all 50s which is also a problem here as none of the shops seem to have change even if you're buying something for 8.50 and give them a 10, so I had to go into the bank to get some smaller notes. Well that was an experience... to enter the bank you have to get through 2 security doors, push the button, wait for the light to go green, enter the booth and repeat process to get gain entry, then take a number and wait patiently for it to be called. Thankfully Gwendols had gone through the same thing back in Dimitsana at the bank so could help me or I'd still be there trying to work it out!! Yes I know probably easy for city dwellers but that I am not! Money in hand we set off to find a Supermarket to buy a few supplies, another interesting experience as of course the products all have Greek writing but by looking at pictures and brands, of which many are the same as at home, we selected all the things we needed. Next was lunch, Gyros again... I managed to make them understand the "no meat" and "weak" coffee. We felt a bit like animals in the zoo however as the cafe we chose was full of men and they did nothing but stare at us the entire meal!! Back to the motel for a few hours blogging etc then we were picked up very promptly by Vistitmeteora.com for their Sunset Tour. Our guide was excellent, he spoke very good english and gave us lots of information about the history of not only the monasteries but also the area.... for instance things like Kastraki actually means "small castle" and Kalambaka is "look (at the) castle" which was all from the invading Turks. Kastraki has a population of 2000 people whose main income is derived from tourism, agriculture and public service. The driver was also fantastic, stopping a lot along the way to let us take photos. Also on the tour was a lone Aussie girl from Melbourne who had been based in Berlin for the last 6 years and had done a lot of travel in Europe, lucky thing!! We stopped to go into the Nunnery of Saint Stephens and for an outside look at the Monastery of Great Meteora, then a stop at a gorgeous place to sit on the rocks and watch the sun go down, they then took us into Kalambaka to see the Byzantine Church of Virgin Mary... copied from the tour website ....
Situated in the old districts of Kalambaka, this early christian church from the 6th or 7th century is dedicated to the Dormition of Virgin Mary. It is a must-see church, not only for its age and precious 11th century Byzantine frescoes, but also because of the construction material of its walls. Relics of an ancient Greek temple dedicated to God Apollo have been embedded in the wall. In its interior one can also pay attention to the older mosaic floor that is revealed in specific spots beneath the current floor. This is definitely one of the most precious early Christian basilicas around Greece. A fantastic tour that I would recommend doing if in the area, cost was EU 30 per person, well worth every cent, we booked it online the night before with no problems! After the tour ended, about 6.45pm we headed back to the Taverna across from the hotel to have the same delicious dinner we had last night we couldn't let GJ miss such a spread!! Total bill was EU 40 including a well deserved tip. I spent a little time back at the Hotel after dinner dumping and organising photos and was in bed by 10pm, unfortunately our time in Kastraki/Meteora has come to an end... tomorrow it's off to the Pelion Peninsula.