Greek Journal Part
IV
Greek Journal: 5/13/2005-6/8/2005
Summary: DenveràLondonàAthensàLeptokaryaàLitochoroàMt.
OlympusàLitochoro
àKalambaka (Meteora)àIguominitsaàCorfu
TownàIguominitsaàZorganian Villages, Vikos Gorge and
5/21/2005:
Kalambaka/Meteora,
Our walked took to
the Monastery of the Holy Trinity which sits on top of a 600 ft rock tower
overlooking Kalambaka. The tow house,
which was once used to bring food, guests and monks up to the monastery still
hung over the vertical rock wall, but early in the 20th century a
stair way had been cut in to the rock.
Early guest would be placed in a rope net and hauled straight up a few
hundred feet to the tow house. Unwanted
guests were out of luck since even an accomplished climber would be unable to
scale these featureless rock walls.
Monastery of the Holy Trinity. The tow house is on the far left of the spire
and the stairway can be seen 2/3rds of the way up the left hand side of the
tower cutting obliquely across the rock.
This is still an
active monastery with monks working, worshipping and living on the rock. Due to their ascetic life and vows, they do
interact and are not seen by the public who visits. We were able to ascend the steps and tour
most of the monastery, but saw no sign of its life long habitants.
After the visit Mo
and Kelley walked down and I hobbled down.
My injured foot is a mixed blessing.
Even though it is painful and slow to walk, my tendency to forge ahead
by myself has been curtailed and am getting to spend a lot of time in the
company of Kelley and
After returning to
the Koka Roka we had lunch and set out on a tour of the other monasteries in the
area. We went to Megalo Meteora and the
Monastery of Roussano. While all the
original monasteries were for monks, Roussano has been converted in to a
cloistered convent for nuns. Meteora
seemed to be one of those very rate instances where the experience of visiting
one of earths great natural wonders was enhanced by the impact of man. The monasteries blended in so well with the
rock you almost imaging them being present when the oceans receded from this
geologic wonder 3 million years ago.
All good things must come to an end, so after
a day of inspiration and perspiration we returned to the KR and Kelley got her
things together in preparation for her evening departure back to reality, as it
is for her. Her reality right now is
Map of the Montpellier region of France
After packing we went down to the main town square and had a delicious dinner including a taste of the local Makedeniko wine which was very good.
We put Kelley on the train at 7:30 pm and said a sad
good-bye. What a great visit! This was the longest time we had spent
together in at least the past 10 years.
I will particularly remember and cherish our struggle up and down
5/22/2005: Leaving Kalambaka: This was an opportunity to successfully apply our Greek travel education. Last night we talked to Arthur and Katarina about getting a ride to the bus in the morning. One of the things that the KR had advertised was that they treat you like family and will pick you and drop you off at the train or bus station. Unfortunately they did not have a car, but we were assured by Katarina that it would be “No problem. Call taxi in morning and it take 2 minutes to get to bus station”. Katarina would cook us up a fine Greek breakfast and we would be on our way. The plan was breakfast at 7 am, call the taxi to pick us up at 8 am and catch the bus at 8:30 am. The bus didn’t really leave until 8:50, but we thought the extra 20 minutes wouldn’t hurt. “No problem, it take 2 minutes in morning for taxi take you to the bus.” Katarina repeated.
We still had our rental car, but a friend of Georges (
At 7:15 am we had already brought all of our luggage down and were ready to do something. Unfortunately there was no Arthur and no Katarina. We waited until 7:45 am and since there was still no Arthur and no Katarina we loaded all the luggage in to the minimicro and I drove it and Mo to the bus station down town and dropped them off. I then drove back to the KR a little after 8 am. Katarina was up, but there was no breakfast. She was a little offended that we had initiated escape plan B, but she would still call a taxi for us. Five calls later she declared that the taxis must be on strike, but “No problem. You walk to the bus. Only take 10 minutes”.
Disappointment and frustration come from failed expectations and being that my expectations were met I was experiencing neither. Twenty minutes later, with seven minutes to spare and a slightly panicked wife, I arrived at the bus station ready for the next adventure.