[sorry for the delay- I normally write these on trains and buses after I leave the city but the bus to Sofia had no airconditioning and was on super windy roads so I thought I was going to vom]
Meteora: one of the things I would have never found on my own without my father´s jedi mind tricks. I mentioned this briefly, my father was the one that “suggested” me to fly into Athens and then “suggested” for me to visit the monasteries of Meteora. I literally thought this was his way of "suggesting" I should go pray while I was in Europe.. Instead he is just living vicariously through me and since he is unable to take a month to backpack, he sends me places he wants to go.
One google image search had me sold on visiting Meteora, and since my next stop after Greece is Sofia, Bulgaria, visiting these monasteries is kind of on the way.
Background on the monasteries of Meteora: there were a total of 20 something monasteries built on top of these crazy rock formations between 1100-1500 all in the Byzantine style. As the rest of Greece, there were many issues with looting and invasion so overtime many of these monasteries were unfortunately abandoned. However, there are currently 4 LIVING monasteries and several others have been restored (the monasteries are considered a UNESCO heritage site). Now it’s a big sight for tourists to see this amazing landscape with these Greek Orthodox monasteries.
Meteora is located between the small towns of Kalampaka and Kastraki. When I was looking at hostels in these two towns, they were kind of outside my price range… But I did find a hostel within my budge (15 euros/night) in the town of Trikala which is 10 km away. [This is the last hostel I booked in the USA]
July 22 2015
I took the 1415 train from Athens to Trikala and arrived around 1730h. Made friends with a cute Taiwanese couple on the train which made the rather long trip go by quicker. I LOVE meeting people from different countries and just learning about their lives and how the culture differs. They were staying n Kalambaka though :(
If you are planning to travel in a country where you will not have unlimited data, I HIGHLY recommend you to download an app called CityMaps2Go. You can download the map of the city you are going to visit along with any articles that would give you information on different tourist attractions/hotels/entertainment/dining etc. (you should preferably download this BEFORE you arrive to the city- so you are not super lost like I was my first day in Athens). Even when you are not connected to Wifi, your phone is able to know your location and tell you approximate distances from where you are to where you are trying to go. My favorite feature, besides always knowing where I am, is that you can star locations on the map! So, for example, when I arrived to the train statin in Trikala, I put a star on my current location so I would be able to find it when I left.
The hostel was super easy to find. Just 20 minutes straight down the road, and I noticed a backpacker got off the same train as I and was walking in the same direction- my suspicion that he was headed to the same hostel as I was correct. We later met, his name is Ollie from the UK. (Oliver- how much more British can you get??)
Trikala looked like a small town, but the main pedestrian walkway was lined with restaurants and coffee shops full of people enjoying.
I was SUPER exhausted, so I just went to get a 2 euro pita gyro (healthy :] ) and stayed at the hostel and planned my next leg- Sofia, Bulgaria. The people at the hostel that worked there were super helpful! They explained where the bus station was, and for 2.60 euros each way, we would be in Kalambaka in less than 45 minutes to hike up to see the monasteries. They recommended going on one of the early buses to beat the heat, and there were several people from the hostel that would be taking the 515AM bus the next morning.
July 23 2015
I COULD not sleep that night… I went to bed late planning, and then felt like a little kid before Christmas because I started getting excited about Meteora and then Sofia and then the rest of my trip…. So waking up, slash sitting up because I am almost positive I didn’t sleep that night, at 430AM was welcomed! There were several people in my room (3 of 7) that were already up and ready. I officially met Ollie (the guy from the UK that was traveling in Greece for three weeks), Ben (this guy that has been traveling for a year ALL over the world and is now biking through Europe), and Gioanna (an American girl who had been living in Istanbul for two months as a student intern). People traveling in Europe are so cool.
It took like 20 minutes to get there and dawn was just starting to break and it felt cool which was a nice change from the 100 degree weather I had been enduring in Athens. I split off from the other people because I am really obnoxious with pictures and don’t like burdening people to take pictures for me several times or holding people up… Basically I wanted to do it at my own pace, and I would see them later at the hostel.
The map I received at the hostel had no street names, no square names.. Just a color pencil drawing of a small town. I also didn’t really know what I was looking for… So I tried unsuccessfully for a good hour to walk along the base of the rock formations assuming that the footpath would be obivous. Nope. At least it was a nice view.
I did literally walk through bushes and briars thinking that maybe it was overgrown.. Nope. My legs are covered in scratches -_-
After about an hour, its like 7am now, I finally start asking people (because nothing was open and no one was around at 6 in the morning). A nice old man basically walked me the correct path and off I went! At the time, I was kind of annoyed because I wanted to do the foot path…. I was instead walking the road that cars and buses took to drive to the monasteries. And it wasn’t very direct…. Anyways. It was really bizarre and amazing with the sun rising and changing the colors of the rocks from gray to orange.
I reached the main monastery, Grand Meteora, around 815 and it didn’t open until 9am. Luckily, I had brought some of the snacks Ioanna forced me to take… and I took a little cat nap. Plus you could see a monestaery that was nearby.
Then I wake up and there are MILLIONS of tour buses! What? You don’t deserve to make the line long you took a bus!
Anyways.
Going to stereotype a bit but I have found it to hold true in every city that I have been to. So there were a lot of Asian tour buses, and many many many of them have selfie sticks and all are taking selfies next to each other, each with their own selfie stick. It looks ridiculous.
This one woman was taking a selfie with her husband (instead of asking one of the million other tourists walking around taking pictures….) and for whatever reason her phone comes loose. She tries to kick it down but IT FELL OFF THE SIDE OF THE ROCK MOUNTAIN (like 300m, 1000ft). Her face was just stunned at what had happened. I had to walk away so I wouldn’t laugh in her face. All the lost selfies!
The monestary was nice.
Once I had had enough of wearing all the extra clothes (since it’s living, women must cover their shoulders and wear a skirt), I decided to walk past the rest of the monasteries and the other points of interest. Decided not to go into anymore of them because Byzantine art makes me sleepy.
It was getting hotttt though so I stopped at the “sunset viewing point”
And then literally was falling asleep so decided to find the foot path, which was MUCH easier to find from the top.
I kept running into these Spanish kids that were also at my hostel and I was walking at awkward distances from them for the majority of the day….
I got back at 2pm to the hostel beatttttt. Siesta time and then decided to explore Trikala a bit.
Nice spot for my first meal of the day overlooking the city
The people at the hostel that night were super cool. A guy from Switzerland had just come in and he had basically done all of the destinations that I am planning to do so I got some tips :] I was actually able to give him some ideas for Athens and Delphi :)
Later that night I was convinced to change out of my pajamas to go out for drink. An American girl, Alyssa (who has been living abroad for almost 2 years traveling and doing odd jobs), was leaving Trikala after working their for one week so Beniet (a Spanish guy that was working at the hostel for one month) was rallying a group to go out in her honor. It ended up being two Portuguese guys, an Argentine, Ollie, Alyssa and I went down the block and literally were out until 330AM just talking and very casually drinking. Literally I had 2 beers, so I was far from crazy- but discussing life with people you may never see again that share a passion for traveling and people makes for a very interesting night !
I was just dead the next day but whatever- take advantage of situations as they arise!
P.S. I literally walked over 40000 steps and up 209 floors for my fellow fitbiters :P
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