Mari

Oct 29, 20194 min read

Greece ~ Part 2 - Meteora, Kalambaka and Ioannia

Oct 25th - Oct 29th

On Oct 25th we got up Super early and had to catch the Metro across Athens to make it to our train that was leaving at 7:15 am. It was early, and crowded, but we made it! We are taking the train to the amazing town of Kalambaka (Καλαμπάκα ). My Mom and Dad are having fun trying to learn the letters in Greek. They keep discussing how to pronounce different letters. My dad keeps talking about math and how we use these letters- I haven't had to use any letters in my math yet - but he says its coming! I tried for a bit - but it was too hard!

We got on the train and traveled up to Kalambaka. Kalambaka is a small town located at the base of these huge cliffs. It is a beautiful little town that was completely rebuilt after the German Occupation that totally burnt and destroyed the town in 1943.

Here is a picture of the cute little house we stayed at in Kalambaka. Apparetnly it is one of the only houses that was not burnt down in the town, most of the new houses are 2 and 3 stories tall.

Here you can see the rest of the town spread out in the cliffs. What a view! If you squint and look a the tops of some of the cliffs you can spot a monastary or two!

We were also really lucky to be able to witness and share in the celebration of October 28th. It is a national holiday in Greece and it celebrates Oxi day ( Επέτειος του Όχι ) or the Anniversary of NO. It is a day to celebrate the resistance of the Greek people to the invading Axis armies. On October 28th, 1940 Mussolini asked Greece to allow Axis troops to enter Greece to allow them to hold strategic areas. The Greek government and people said NO. Italy invaded the following day and the war began for Greece.

We spent our time in Kalambaka region hiking around the areas and exploring the landscape. It is also known as Meteora. Meteora is the name of one of the Monasteries that are located in the area. The whole region is full of beautiful Monasteries that are built on the top of the cliffs. The monks, and brothers that lived in these retreats lived quiet, lives separated from most around them. They had pulley systems and rope ladders to bring up supplies from the valley far below.

This first hike that we did was up to the Monastery of the Holy Trinity. It became famous in film when James Bond climbed the cliffs of the Monastery in "For Your Eyes Only". We were able to hike up and see the whole area. It was a really cool hike, we saw goats on the hills, and were able to walk up a path that is cut out of the rock.

Another beautiful hike we did was over to Varlaam Monastery. It was a tough hike up the cliffs on a steep path. It was built in the 14th century and is still used today.

We walked back down after a long hike and stopped at a traditional Greek taverna for lunch. As soon as we saw the man behind the grill - my Dad knew we had to stop! We had a fabulous lunch of Greek salad, olives, local sausage, local pork skewers and fries.

We also did a few other hikes, one was up to a large rock tower and then through a huge crack down the other side. It was a crazy hike. We all helped each other and made it down without any injuries. I was proud of us for working so well together!

During this hike we saw some old abandoned Hermitages. These are places where people (hermits) lived. They lived up in the holes in the sides of the cliffs. Some had old rope ladders hanging down , but others were perched so high up it was hard to tell how they could have gotten up there.

Here are some other beautiful pictures from our time in Meteora. What a gorgeous place.

Oct 29th

Today we got up early and we had to catch the bus to Ioannia. We got to the bus station early and we checked our ticket with the bus driver, and we all got on the bus. My mom was sure that this was not the right bus - sure enough when we asked the bus driver again - it was going the wrong direction and we had to get off and onto another one! Thank goodness we double checked!

We traveled to Ioannina and the trip was about 1.5 hours, the seats were great and the view was beautiful. Brendan and I felt a little car sick because the bus was going back and forth along the twisty turned roads.

Finally we got to Ioannina. We are only staying one night here and then we are going to Igoumenitsa and onto the Island of Corfu. We had a bit of a long walk to find our guesthouse for the night, but once we got there it turned out really nice.

We decided to go out and have a really nice lunch, we had Greek salad, local sausages and a beef stuffed with cheese and tomatoes. Guess what I had? SPAGHETTI!!!!

After lunch we headed to a local cave called Perama cave. It is a huge beautiful cave that was only found in 1940 when the local people, who were desperate to find a place to hide from the Nazi bombing raids saw a small crack in the ground and opened it up. They used the first part of the cave as a bomb shelter and hideaway during the war.

After the war was over, local cavers came to fully explore the cave. By 1956 it was opened to the public. We walked on tourist trail that is 1.1km long and looked at all sorts of beautiful stalagtites and stagmites as well as curtains and columns.