Meteora

The journey from Mount Olympus to Kalambaka was enjoyable. It involved a 20 minute local bus journey, a 15 minute walk, two one hour train rides and a ten minute walk from the railway station to the Meteora Centre Hostel. The train to Kalambaka was full. A large percentage of the passengers were Asian tourists. This didn’t bode well as I thought it was an indication that Meteora would be crammed full of tourists.

Sheila and I had met a young English woman, on a one year sabbactical, on our hike down Mount Olympus and she recommended the Central Hostel highly. It turns out she was correct to do so. It is very comfortable and the owner Stella (and her husband whose name escapes me) were so very helpful. Stella helped us plan our stay. She even booked a doctor appointment for me. I had a painful ear infection,

caught, I believe in one of swimming pools I’ve used recently.

Kalambaka sits at the foot of the spectatular mountains of Meteora. Arriving in town early gave us an opportunity to go for an afternoon walk up to the edge of town to see the mountains and in the distance, a couple of the cliff top monisteries. Stella mapped out a route for us and we went walking in the midday sun. The cliffs were all very inpressive but what really impressed Sheila was that she spotted three tortoises in the wild, during our walk. To say she was made-up would be a gross understatement.

Both Sheila and I had been unwell since our trip to Mount Olympus. I concluded that the three day hike and climb was so strenuous that we were run-down.

Sheila was so ill (swollen knees and sinusitis), she couldn’t face the thought of a full days hike up the mountains to visit the cliff top monisteries. So, I got her the necessary medication and left her in bed to rest, while I took a local bus towards the mountains. The bus soon filled with passengers with many standing in the aisle. The driver said (in Greek) that all passengers must have a seat and he proceeded to eject those standing from the bus.

I was a little apprehensive about the volume of tourists going up the mountain. I thought it might be as crowded as were many other famous tourist sights in Europe I’ve visited.

At the first monastery (St Nikolas) we reached, just three of us got off the bus. Two Canadian women and ne. They were staying at the same hostel as us. We had met over dinner the previous evening. The rest of the passengers remained on the bus? The Canadians confirmed that Stella had advised them to do the tour this way, the same as she had Sheila and I.

We climbed up to the Monastery and I paid the 3 Euro entrance fee. Stella said don’t pay to enter all of them. She said, once you’ve seen inside a couple of monasteries, you really don’t need to pay to see inside any more. It was a steep strenuous climb up to the Monastery. There were only a handful of tourists up there. At this stage, I thought, there would not be a problem with overcrowding, as a person would need to be fit and mobile to undertake climbs with that degree of difficulty. I was wrong, as I learned that the others could be accessed from coaches with only a short walk.

Views around the Monastery of St Nikolas

Stella advised that there is a footpath between St Nikolas and the Monastery of Great Meteoron and tbe Monastery of Varlaam. So, together with the Canadians we took it. It involved a 20 minute steep climb through a lovely forest.

The Monastery of Varlaam is one of the larger monasteries and has the best exhibition. For that reason, most tourists make this one of the ones they visit. After we climbed through the tranquility of the forest, it was a shock to be met by hundreds of noisy tourists. It’s a generalisation, I know, but the Asians seem to make a lot more noise than others?

From Vaarlam I walked around to the Great Meteoron and on to the remaining three monasteries. Fun Fact: two of the six monasteries are run by nuns. Does that make them Nunneries?

There were dozens and dozens of tourist coaches but apart from the two above mentioned, I never felt it was overcrowded. There are a couple of fantastic scenic viewpoints and my photos show that there were not hoardes of tourists.

The monasteries are very well maintained to a high quality standard. Not something I would say about many of the places we have visited in recent months. The monks obviously have the money generated from the revenue from 000,000’s of annual visitors.

The hike down was an easy 25 minute walk. I passed 10-15 other people going up and down the trail, which surprised me as, apart from the Canadian women I had not seen anyone else walk between the monasteries. Not sure how far I walked in total. I took the 9am bus out and arrived back at the hostel at 2.30pm. I estimate that it would have possibly been 8-10kms.

Meteora in an UNESCO World Heritage site. It probably deserves that accolade more than anywhere I have been. Together with the Grand Canyon, it ranks as the most spectactular place I have ever visited. In fact, for me it ranks higher than the Grand Canyon because of the way man has built monasteries in the most inaccesible locations, adding to the natural beauty of the environment.

The following day, Sheila was much better and fit enough to visit Meteora. I joined her and we followed the same route as I had the previous day. It was no hardship for me to visit Meteora two days in succession, in fact, sharing the wonder of the place merely enhanced the experience.