Blogs from Meteora, Thessaly, Greece, Europe
July 28th 2011
I have got one word to describe Meteora-Fantastic! Before the trip to Greece we hadn’t heard of Meteora, the Acropolis, yes, Olympia, Santorini certainly. It wasn’t though until we started researching, that Meteora kept cropping up in the tourist guide and in the top 5 places to visit in Greece. These are a group of magnificent 14th century monasteries perched on top enormous rock formations, and are still used today. One of these Agia Trias was used in the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only. Originally the only way for monks to get to them is by rope ladder, these days there are steps. Some of the larger more accessible monasteries attract many tour coaches. At one called Metamorphosis which had a single approach road with a steep drop one side. There was just about ... read more
April 23rd 2011
Tuesday 19th April 2011 On the road to Meteora in central nortern Greece, A journey that should in theory be quite straight forward. Over the mountains by modern motorway and down onto the Plain of Thessaly by normal roads. However fate had a different view as with around 3/4 of the motorway section complete traffic in both directions was diverted onto a local mountain road. This was not of great quality with sections looking as though they might slip into the valley below down the steep hillside. Traffic included large articulated lorries which needed to pass in opposite directions - making driving very interesting to say the least. At one point a ravine was bridged by what appeared to be a narrow temporary bridge. Stationed there was an official supervising the crossing of a single vehicle ... read more
April 8th 2011
Kalabaka is next to Meteora which has the Monasteries up on the rocks. The monasteries are really just amazing - they are part of the cliff. You can’t make out so clearly where the rock ends and the monastery building begins. They hang on these cliffs seemingly precariously except that they have been here for centuries and seen countless footsteps and are quite solid. There used to be more but now there are 6 left that are still occupied in some way - most are still working monasteries with churches/chapels and residents. Fortunately they allow visitors. There is a strict dress code - men must wear long pants and women must wear a long skirt and have their arms covered. They supply wraps at the gates for those who do not meet the dress code. ... read more
July 23rd 2010
Proponuje jako podklad wlaczyc sobie w tle ten oto filmik z youtube naszego autorstwa, na ktorym niewiele widac, ale jest muzyka najbardziej autentyczna z mozliwych. A o okolicznosciach jego nakrecenia opowiem pozniej. Po trzech dniach pobytu u supergoscinnych S. i V., musielismy opuscic Ateny i zaczac w koncu prawdziwy roadtrip. Bylismy zaopatrzeni w kanister oliwy, flaszke ouzo, greckiego piwa i wina od naszych gospodarzy, ktorzy kazdemu podarowali jego ulubiony trunek. Z Aten wyjechalismy na tyle wczesnie, na ile bylo to mozliwe, biorac pod uwage, jak wymeczyl nas upal i zycie nocne. Jechala z nami moja przyjaciolka z USA, nazwijmy ja H., z ktora umowilam sie juz wczesniej, ze pojedzie z nami do Meteory, a potem wroci sobie busem do Aten z Ioanniny, podczas gdy my pojedziemy dalej na polnoc. Gdy jednak okazalo sie, ze Ameryka... read more
July 7th 2010
Yesterday we took a trip to a town called Meteora, the word means "in midair". It is about 1 and a half from Lamia, it would be closer but we had to travel up and down the mountains. At some point I am going to have to upload some pictures because this place is too hard to explain. The beauty, peacefulness, spirituality, amazment.......it is truly breath taking. In Meteora there are 6 monasteries each on the top of a rock. You wonder how they built these things. They have cable cars that connect some of the monasteries and before there were roads they have cables that hang from the top with a net that could lift things like food...people. Absolutley amazing. The views from here are just phenomonal!!!! The mountains that surround Meteroa and the rocks ... read more
July 7th 2010
After almost 3 weeks in South Africa seeing 5 World Cup Matches, Kruger Safari, Stellenbosch Wine Festival, Great White Sharks, as well as side trips to the small countires of Lesotho and Swaziland, it was time to make our way back home. "On the way back", we had a 4 night lay over in Greece. We had already stayed in Athens for 2 nights on our way to South Africa, so daddy wanted to somewhere else. While most travellers head for the islands, we headed north. Daddy had read about a place that looked like it was out of a fairy tale and thought we would both enjoy it. It was called Meteora and it was located about 4-5 hours north of Athens. It consisted of 6 monasteries that were on top of these interesting mountains, ... read more
May 22nd 2009
I first discovered Meteora unknowingly about 10 years ago while watching the James Bond Movie "For Your Eyes Only". It was the image of a sombre monastery perched on the peak of a gargantuan column of rock, all set amidst a backdrop of gnarled craggy peaks that made me decide then and there that one day I would visit that place. So I was pleasantly surprised when planning our trip that that very place was a standard tourist attraction. We had planned to leave Thessaloniki bright and early but I had stupidly booked our rental car from an office in the nether-regions of Thessaloniki. This meant that it took ages to get there, although in doing so, I got to enjoy a rather protracted escapade on the public bus. We then started driving the wrong direction ... read more
The Hills Are Alive with the Sound of MUSIC
Published: May 16th 2009Europe » Greece » Thessaly » Meteora
May 15th 2009
Unfortunately, it is true that the music was created by my singing. We all know how terrible that can be... Anyway, I took my last exam of the semester on Monday morning (I think it went alright!) and only had a paper left to worry about. So I said 'you can wait' to the paper and scampered off to Meteora with Camille. We left early on Tuesday morning, though the tickets I bought (which were supposed to be for Tuesday) were actually for Wednesday. They told us we would have to stand if there weren't enough seats and that we would just have to try and find a place to sit. We found a place- turns out it was in the first class cabins! We had a great ride there! it was very Harry Potter-esque with ... read more
Mainland Greece Day 1: Monasteries and "Magic" of Meteora
Published: May 15th 2009Europe » Greece » Thessaly » Meteora
May 11th 2009
Visiting Meteora was to be the big question mark of the trip. Google Earth did not have a clear aerial, the hotel was not very communicative, and I had no mre information beyond the fact that it is the location of the monastery where the James Bond movie, For Your Eyes Only was filmed. Greek Trains I think we are becoming enough of an expert on the subject, having been on Serbian, Austrian, French, Chinese, Romanian, Bulgarian, and Hungarian railcars and trains. What we have experienced so far are the regional trains, these are okay, a little beat up, but still comfortable, and timely at the start of the day, but not the end. Larissa Station in Athens is quite dimunitive, but that makes it easy to navigate unlike the huge Communist Era stations we experienced ... read more
