Blogs from Meteora, Thessaly, Greece, Europe - page 2

Two months and eight countries later confusion is starting to set in - I'll thank someone in five different languages before finding the right one, my purse is full of change that is completely useless one day and fine the next. Shampoo has become body wash, clothes wash and ... oh yeah, shampoo :) I've learned that when you have access to a free loo you use it - wether you need to go or not! When you can't understand someone it always seems like they are yelling at you, but my miming skills are definitely improving. Brand new friends are instant best friends you feel like you've known for years - simply for the comfort. If it looks like chicken - it probably is. When meeting fellow Australians your use of profanity triples and you ... read more

The town of Delhpi is tucked around a corner on the mountainside and it was pointless waiting in bed to watch the sun stream in the hotel window as it was going to take a while to reach us.Down the valley though, the town of Kirra was sitting in full sun which encouraged us to get up and get the day underway. This morning we had another challenge while showering.We have got used to the hand held shower head(well as used to it as we are ever going to get)but this morning there was another surprise for us.Having got into the shower and getting ready to turn the shower on I suddenly realised that there was an open gap in the sliding shower door as one of the doors was missing.It was just as well I ... read more

Wow! Today marks one month of travel. It's funny, though, once you get going you don't really think about time, and travelling becomes second nature. That being said, I only have 20 or so days left. I need to make the most of them. I feel like I definitely did that today. I caught a taxi over to the neighboring town of Kalambaka, which is larger by far than Kastraki, and has the bus and train depots, and more hotels, etc. But you don't really go here for the town. You go here for the great hiking trail that winds up through the rocks to the last two major monasteries at Meteora: Holy Trinity and St. Stephen. For me at least, this was far more intense than yesterday, and I thought at one point the trail ... read more

Another wild and slightly insane day of travel. The only bus I took today was in the morning, and of course it was late. There's a saying in Greece that to show up on time is "to act English." So when a bus says it'll be at a certain place at 9, it really means 9:15. But the drive out of Delphi was beautiful. Went through a genuine Greek ski town, Arahova, right on the slopes of Mt. Parnassos. Thought I was back in Colorado for a second. Then finally made my way down to Levadia, and caught a taxi to the train station from there. A quick word about the train in Greece. I loved it because I was done with the bus, but the stations are dilapidated, worn out looking places on the edges ... read more

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