Today was a very good day.
It started with me moving to a different hotel. The one I was at was somewhere between bad and pathetic and I didn’t feel like staying there another night. So for ten euros more I upgraded to a great place under the rocks of Meteora. Check-in at the new place was something like 1400, but I figured if I wanted to get an early start on the rocks then I’d go as early as I could and hope that they’d store my bags. The owner here was perfect, he first was confused why I was there since I made the reservation late last night he didn’t even know, then he offered me coffee and juice in the little café that they have here. The best thing he did was to give me a map and tell me how to get up to Meteora and what to do while I was there. See, I have been picking my spots that I’m going to in Greece based on the itinerary that I found in a tour that I saw. So I know the spots, but not the logistics of how to make it happen.
Probably the best way to describe where I am at is to straighten out some things that I’ve written incorrectly in the last entry. First, Meteora is an UNESCO World Heritage location. It is a collection of monasteries on the top of some very big rocks, maybe they’re not rocks, but hills…no they’re rocks. Anyway, there are two cities that sit below Meteora and the one that I’m staying at is Kalambaka. It’s a tourist town that is really charming in the way that Delfi was. It seems that everyone knows everyone and all the people that I’ve had contact with have been very nice. So the city itself is great but I’m here for Meteora.
From the hotel about 50 meters away a trail starts and leads up to one of the monasteries. The trail is a mix of concrete, gravel, and plain old dirt, there is one common denominator and that is no matter the type of trail, they all went up. It took me about 40 minutes to get to the first monastery, but it was a good warm up for what was ahead. From the first monastery all the other monasteries were on a paved road spread out over, I think the map said 7km. I did take a detour up a hill to see a river that was marked on the map, another 7km if I’d made it. The road just kept going up, and I mean it when I say, it just kept going up. After about 3km I finally realized that I would be way too tired if I walk the whole way so I turned around and went back. Defeat….
Most of the rest of afternoon was just going to monastery to monastery, that is until I hit last one. On the map there was a trail marked that lead to a statue about a few kilometers from the last monastery, I still had the energy so I decided to do it. This part is what made the day so good.
The trail isn’t marked on the road and the only indication there was that there was a trail, was you could see bent over grass heading up the hill, so that’s where I went. I walked for only about a half hour, until I turned a corner and this beautiful vista came into view. I could try to explain it, but images would do better. The one thing to be aware of is that the images don’t capture the awe that I had when I was sitting there. I can’t stress enough how awestruck I actually was. I was sitting on this huge rock staring out into this vista when a wave of, “I can’t believe I’m actually seeing this!” would come over me. The next thought was I’m so lucky. I sat there for about at least thirty minutes just staring out into the distance.
Once I got back to walking it didn’t take me long to actually see the statue in the distance. Which I should say was a relief because the trail I’m walking on is a real trail, nothing is marked except for some pile of stones that others have left to remind them the direction they came from. As I walked up to the statue I noticed another monastery built into the rocks. What a nice surprise. I think that at the time I was stunned, like I had stumbled onto something that no one else knew was there. The view was pretty good there too. I must have taken about fifty photographs of the statue, monastery, and the view. One of the best things was except for the wind and an occasional bug it was completely quiet, there was no cars, no screaming kids, nothing but nature. After at least twenty minutes of feeling lucky, I decided it was time to head back. I started my hike at about 9, and although I didn’t know what time it was, I figured that I had been out for about 6 hours.
The hike down was fun, it was very steep and poorly marked. I never really knew if I was going in the right direction. Eventually I hit a dirt road and followed it until I could see the main road, then it was back to society. The walk from the statue to the main road took at least an hour, maybe longer, but still I hadn’t seen one person. The crunch of the gravel under my feet was like music. From the main road to my hotel took about an hour and a half and by the time I got there I was so tired that I was wired… if you know what I mean. I got back to the hotel at 4:30, and I have no clue how far I walked but it had to be close to 20 miles. I drank three and half liters of water, and had sweated so much the salt in the sweat had left rings all over my shirt and backpack. I took about 200 photographs in total, more than I think I have at any one location this year. I thoroughly enjoyed it though.
After doing some laundry I headed down to the main street of the city to get something to eat and have a couple of beers. I back now and it’s almost time for me to go to bed.
So today was a very good day.
