Meteora and Thessaloniki

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The holiday was something about the Saints or the Trinity- an Orthodox holiday. This meant that at the monasteries instead of the hordes of tourists there were lots of Greeks as well. It was really humbling because most tourists take a bus up but I walked a 20 minute trail steep up to the furthest away monastery, this one full of only Greeks. There was a father with the big beard, black clothes, and cross, and everybody was kissing his hand. I felt really out of place, but he smiled at me and I went inside but everybody was praying so I left. The other monasteries were more touristed, but the best thing about Meteora was the rocks themselves- just beautiful, look at the pictures.

I thought Thessalonikki was going to be a bad city, but I actually liked it more than Athens. I just planned to stay the night so I could go to Sofia, Bulgaria the next day. The hostel was un-reccomended by the book, but it was just tiny and had the worst showers I had ever seen. It really resembled a dungeon- not concrete, but some older type of rock, with one rusty shower head and a pipe out of the walls. I arrived at the train station at 10:00, but the next train was at 5:39 so I walked around Thessalonikki, which is very hip and more diverse than the rest of Greece I saw. Greece is about 98% Greek, so I was shocked to see blacks and south east asians that moved there. It was also laid out better and less claustrophobic than Athina. I went to the Byzantine museum, the white tower, and a Roman arch. All in all, a good time.

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Photos

Meteora
The monasteries are built right into the rocks!

The White Tower
Sort of beige, really

Comments

[Elizabeth]

wow the monasteries are so pretty!!! i really wish i could have gone to greece when i went to europe but with the eurail pass and the places everybody else wanted to go greece didn't work with the plans. man you are lucky...especially not to have my brother along with you making the trip painful! well have a great time in bulgaria!