Trikala was our first little European town and it lived up to all of our expectations. The strange thing about Trikala is that it has a main street full of cafés absolutely packed with people (so much so that we thought there must have been an event on) but none of the cafés serve food. It was bizarre walking down a whole street of cafes full of people who only wanted to consume coffee and not being able to find a single place suitable for lunch.

Our hostel (Hostel Meteora) was a family run place where they put a lot of effort into getting to know the guests, providing drinks and snacks and the mother even provided some homemade Greek version of French toast one morning for breakfast. It was an absolute pleasure staying with them and would recommend it to anyone wanting to visit the monasteries of Meteora. Strangely it seems to be the only hostel available so it is also the cheapest place to stay in the area.

We got very unlucky with the weather on the day that we visited Meteora, it poured down with rain for most of the morning and thick fog filled the valley when we got to the largest monastery, The Grand Meteora. Luckily the afternoon was better to us and the sun came out which only made the whole experience that much more special. The views were magnificent and the circuit past most of the monasteries was easy enough on foot. The area is a pleasure to visit.