Ten-odd Days
traipsing to see the world, our way
Mysterious Meteora: A Photo Gallery
Our drive to Meteora was eventful, to say the least. In the previous post on Meteora, it was mentioned that we were stopped and booked for speeding. In my defence, it was a new expressway that had practically no vehicles for kilometres at a stretch. Nevertheless, speeding is wrong and I should have known better; nevermind the reason.
We were clocking around 150km/h when the speed limit on the expressway was 120km/h, and I was caught by a mobile traffic police van. Sheepishly, I walked back to the van after stopping the car quite a distance away (while the mister continued sitting in the car, grinning and leaving me to handle the traffic police on my own 😡 ). I was surprised to see two other young females sitting in the van, probably from the other car that was stopped nearby; they were being booked too.
The fatherly male traffic police officer was stern but fair. Perhaps much more fair that I expected. He didn’t tell me how much the fine was for, except that it won’t be too much; I was on tenterhooks the whole time he took down really detailed information. He wanted my parents’ names as well, and wanted our accommodation details (I brought along my passport, International Driving Permit, local driving licence and wallet along when I alighted) so I walked back to our rental vehicle again, to retrieve the necessary documents.
By then, the mister was getting worried (served him right for abandoning me to face the music alone!). He got out of the car to ask me why it was taking so long. I briefly explained to him before briskly walking back to the waiting officer.
After what really felt like an eternity to me, the police officer explained to me that he was letting me off with a small fine of 35€ (or thereabout), 10% of the original fine because he didn’t think I was a habitual speeder. I heaved a sigh of relief. Honestly I was expecting a fine of above 100€. He then handed me the speeding ticket and told me that we have to pay the fine at a post office, and not to him.
Having learnt a well-deserved lesson, we took our time to get to Meteora as I suppressed the strong urge to go beyond the speed limit. I’m not a speed demon per se, but I’m also certainly not a slow driver.
We were both relieved when we finally arrived at our guesthouse. It has been a long day.
Apart from the 6 monasteries in Meteora that are still occupied, we also visited other places in our slightly over 2 days there, including a visit to the viewpoint for a gorgeous sunset and a couple of hermitages. In particular, the Meteora Sunset Tour we signed up for was well-worth the time and money; we learnt so much from our guide.
Our room at Monastiri Guesthouse in Kalampaka, one of the two towns near to Meteora. 
Booked a room with a porch that led directly to the swimming pool area. 
The bathroom was simple and functional. 
American breakfast was provided by the guesthouse, and was a sumptuous full spread to fuel up before a day of activity. 
The frontal facade of Monastiri Guesthouse. Interesting construction material, made of stone I think, and likely from the area. 
Not entirely certain if we were overlooking Kalampaka or Kastraki, but since we were at either St. Stephen’s or Holy Trinity, I’ll hazard a guess and say this is probably Kalampaka. 
How many monasteries can you spot in this picture? If you look closely, one of the three monks living at Holy Trinity Monastery was captured in the picture as well. 
What a beautiful spot to have a picnic! 
Rousanou Monastery, perched atop a narrow rock. 
One of the few wefies we took in Meteora. The large monastery in the background would be Grand Meteoron Monastery. 
The highlight in this shot is the rock in the centre. Our guide pointed out that there was once a monastery carved into the rock but after years of disrepair and eventual decay, we can no longer make out the structure of the monastery, just cave holes. 
Byzantine Church of the Assumption of Virgin Mary, erected above the ruins of another church, in the 11th century. 
Several cross pattée were sighted within the church, indicating that Knights Templar ever stepped foot into this ancient church. 
The bell tower. 
We would have completely missed this ancient church if we had not signed up for the sunset tour. 
The Badova Hermit Caves are pretty well-known, mostly because they are still visible and well-preserved. 
It takes a certain, almost maniacal, level of commitment and self-discipline to commit to a life of solitude in the name of religion. It happens in many religions and is still something I can’t quite fully comprehend. I have nothing but admiration for these individuals. 
The ledges constructed out of wood helped the hermit monk get to a level low enough to retrieve food and supplies from volunteers who went to check on the monk periodically. 
Impending sunset over the valley in Meteora. So blessed to have good weather on our first full day in Meteora because the second day was cloudy; we couldn’t see the sun setting. 
According to the map provided by our guesthouse, there are two locations marked out as prime spots for sunset-viewing: one spot closer to Grand Meteoron Monastery and the other closer to St. Stephen’s Monastery. We were brought to the latter by our mini tour bus. 
Very fiery and majestic sunset witnessed by a whole bunch of us at the viewpoint. 
Once the sun set, it became dark fairly quickly. We stepped down the rocky viewpoint while we still had some light to illuminate our way.
Meteora exudes a mysterious aura; the religious fervour we felt throughout our few days in the region played no small part in this sentiment. Couple that with the wonderment of nature (of strong tectonic movements and weathering) resulting in a stunning, rugged scenery and it is crystal clear why this quietly imposing, looming rock formation is rapidly becoming a vastly popular tourist destination.
Tourists typically take a day tour from Athens to Meteora via a guided bus tour, just to have a sense of how the rock formation looked like. Far lesser choose to utilise public transport or self-drive although these two options offer more freedom to explore the area at a leisurely pace and enjoy the languid vibes of the neighbourhoods of Kalampaka or Kastraki. If you ask us, we would highly recommend spending at overnight in the area if you have the time to spare.
One half of Ten-odd Days - the planning, writing and photo-taking half.
Ten-odd Days 