Blogs from Kalambaka, Thessaly, Greece, Europe

Monday 22ndMay Cycling Tour of Meteora We travelled up to Kastraki yesterday through stunning mountains and across wide plains. In the mountains, the overriding colour is the yellow of the blooming broom trees, their flowers scenting the air. Kastraki is a small village in the Meteora area and sits at the base of huge pillars of rock. It is truly like scenery from some fantasy film. The huge rock monoliths appear initially to be smooth rock faces but as you get closer you see that they have indents and grooves that have been shaped over thousands of years. We ate in the campsite restaurant (very delicious) as the shops don’t open on a Sunday. Today we headed to the big town of Kalambaka to the supermarket to stock up. After lunch we went for a cycle ... read more

Up to get the 9am coach (Meteora Thrones, highly recommended) - & they were on time! A glorious Merc mini bus, leather seats, cherry trim, a driver called Carlos & our guide, Dimitri who spoke good English, Italian & Romanian having lived in both countries before & doubtless smatterings of other languages too. (He also had 2 degrees – botany & International Banking) We shared this 20 seater with just 2 Italians, also from the site. The trip was just fantastic – just the right length in 4 ½ hours. We visited 2 monasteries & 1 nunnery all of which are right on the top of the sandstone mountains, 400 metres high. Apparently it is the second most visited area in Greece after the Parthenon. Dimitri was very knowledgeable & knew the place inside out having ... read more

My sincerest apologies for not publishing a blog for a very long time…It’s not that I didn’t do anything but more of I did too much! I hope everyone is excited to read about monks and monasteries, since that is the first trip I’m going to talk about! Meteora, Greece is a place that has interesting tall rock formations that resulted from wind and water erosion. Left behind are steep but smooth cliffs, peaks, and caves on which monks from the 4th century onward were able to live a life of religious asceticism. These monks were not kidding when they wanted to be left alone either; the cliffs of Meteora are so steep that only the most experienced rock climbers attempt to scale the sides of the mountainous region. The first monks to arrive were forced ... read more