I mentioned that we ended yesterday in Kalamaka. Kalamaka is located at the base of Meteora, which is a series of amazing natural rock formations in central Greece. The formations on their own are among the most beautiful things I've seen in nature, but what makes them even more amazing is that Byzantine monks made their homes on the tops of them to be closer to God. At the start, they camped out in natural caves along the cliff face, but eventually the started building monstaries at the top, lifting up materials rock by rock using ropes and winches. Now, 6 of the monasteries are still in use by Greek Orthodox priests and nuns. We visited two of them - a monastary and a convent, and since it was Sunday we got to spy in on one of the services in progress. There isn't much point to chronology or description beyond that. Just pictures.
As nice as some of those pictures look, they can't do the place justice. 6 months ago I had only the vaguest idea of Meteora, and now it's probably my favourite place that I've been so far. This tour couldn't really do it justice though. I would love to come back and just spend a week hiking along the slopes.
The luck part has mostly been me messing things up and managing to come out largely unscathed in the end. The first thing was that with how things turned out I was only going to have one full day in Athens. That wasn't the problem itself, as I figured I could see what I wanted in one busy day. The problem happened when I realized the one day I had was on Monday, when all the museums in Athens are typically closed. After a bit of frantic consideration into changing my flight to Turkey I did a bit of further research and learned that the main museum I was interested in switches to summer hours this week, so for the first time it's open on Monday. The Parthenon Museum is still closed, but I think I can squeeze that in Tuesday before my flight.
The second event was totally my fault. My tour bus dropped me off this afternoon, and as I started walking to my hostel I realized I had left my camera on the bus. It was very hot out, and by the time I found my hostel I was dripping sweat. I checked in, and asked to use their phone to call the tour company and try to get them to find and leave behind my camera before the bus took off somewhere - only to learn the phone was broken. I borrowed somebody's cell phone since it was a local number and called them and made arrangements. In the end it all worked out and I went to the hotel the tours leave from and picked it up. This was the first time I've left something valuable behind though, so I'm glad I got it back.
Whirlwind day tomorrow as I explore Athens. It's a bit funny to me that this is my third night in Athens, but only the first where I'll have a bed.
1 comment:
I remember vaguely remember Meteora from that Children's Atlas I used to have (I loved that atlas. I was such a geography nerd.) I guess it makes sense that you would love a combination of climbing, history and culture. And I'm really glad that you got your camera back! Losing stuff sucks.
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