March 13 - Meteora - Another fantastic day - Hiking tour

Today we did a 9 km hike through the mountains of Meteora. What a day. The van picked us up at 8:30. We were only 5 on the hike, Jacques and I along with Odette and a young French couple. He was from the region of Bordeaux and her from Normandie. When we first saw these young people, we were a bit scared that we would have trouble following but the pace was set pretty slow.

View from our hotel balcony

It was all uphill or downhill all the way with not much flat. The views especially after the 1st hour were superb. There were so many pictures to take but they come nowhere near what the real thing looks like. I think the scariest part was the last 45 minutes which was downhill. It was much harder on the knees than going uphill.

The path that we took is part of a race that happens every year. I certainly would not want to be running downhill on those smooth rocks and fine gravel. It is the path that the locals used to take to bring supplies to the monastery.

The start of our hike. The man in red is out guide

Ruins of an old monastery

Caves at the bottom were used by farmers to store food and keep animals. We will be hiking through the narrow opening at right-center

Burial site of a former head monk

Rollande in front of an old oak tree.

Lots of flowers along the way

Also, many of these white bushes along the way

Monastery in the side of the cliff.

We will stop up there for a break

View during our break

Action shot

What Rollande was shooting

Break's over - moving on towards the Great Meteoro Monastery

We stopped at the Great Meteoro. It is the biggest one but there are now only 4 monks who live there. We were really surprised how well kept and beautiful it was inside the monastery. It would be very hard to pray inside the church with all the distractions like paintings, fixtures, carvings..... that are every where. There are many things to look at.

Almost there

Old way to get in - small door with pull-up ladder to keep intruders out

Newer way to get in

Next - pass through a tunnel

Supplies gets delivered via cable car.

Long way down

Monastery next door

Loading deck and pulley

Rollande in front of the work shop

Old tools

The monks loved their wine

Old kitchen

Notice the pink oval at the far middle left

Once you have climbed the many steps to reach the monastery and are inside the tunnel after the entry it is hard to imagine that you are on a cliff. The buildings are around you with terraces and courtyards that are beautiful. They also have terraces on the outside where you can sit and look at the other peaks and even see another monastery across the vast emptiness.

Interesting bridge on the way down

Monks used this trail every day to work the fields in the valley below.

Saw a couple of these on the way down

Almost at the bottom of the hill

One last picture before we return to Athens

The sights that we have seen in Kalapaka and Meteora are unlike any that we have seen before. The company that we booked with for the 2-day tour was top notch. The hotel was great, the Mercedes vans were new and the driver very prudent. The guides were fantastic, and everything was clean. They had plenty of sanitizers and water and they provided a safe place for us to leave our luggage while we hiked. I cannot find anything to fault them with.

Jacques waited in the office while Odette and I went to the pharmacy to buy more sanitizer and to buy a book. While he was waiting for us an American couple from South Carolina walked in with hats that said Canada. They were a bit rude when he approached them to talk. They will not be giving Canadians a good name. This is not the first time that we have seen Americans passing themselves off as Canadian.

The van picked us up from the office and dropped us at the train station for an uneventful ride back. We arrived back at the apartment very happy with what seems like our last expedition in Greece.

It seems everything will close down tomorrow due to COVID-19 so we booked the tour just in time.