Friday 17th May. Meteora.
It was yet another beautiful drive. We could see snow- capped mountains in
the distance as we travelled to Meteora. We passed shepherds watching their flocks in the traditional manner: walking them over the hills with their dogs - no fenced areas here. We drove through mainly arable land and then the
amazing landscape of Meteora came into view. This area is full of massive
spikes, cones and rounded hills that were created from river sediment that was
twisted into bizarre shapes as the river flowed into the sea 25 million years
ago.
It was an area that has supported religious communities since the late
10th Century although it was 1336 when the first monastery was built. At one
time there were 24 monasteries and each one on its own ridiculous pinnacle.
There are 6 remaining today and have been made famous by such films as 007 “for
your eyes only”. In the past monks had to be hauled up to the monastery by a
net/basket but now there is a dizzying road that takes you there. Although we
visited all 6 monasteries we only went inside the largest and grandest, Megalou Meteorou, built 400 m above the
valley floor. To enter Jacqui was required to wear a long dress (no shorts, trousers or skirts above knees) and trousers for Mike.
The monastery contained some interesting information on the history and
liberation of modern Greece from the Turks in the 16th century and
the Germans in World War 2, plus lots of religious artefacts.
As we drove and
walked to each monastery we had to keep stopping as we were overawed with the
views. At one of our stops 'Costas' arrived. He was offering free camping in
exchange for a meal at his mother’s hotel. This was just the site/man we were
looking for. We met up with two decent German blokes and exchanged places to
stay in Greece and in the Alps. They also gave us some maps. We all ended up at
Costas' mothers hotel for supper which was simple BBQ chicken, Greek salad and
wine all for only 24 euros (12 euros each). Later Costas invited Jacqui and I to drink Ouzo
with him overlooking his 1000 olive trees from a very romantic spot. I could
not face all the Ouzo after my last experience so Jacqui very kindly, when
Costas was not looking, helped me out.
Saturday 18th May Metsova to Ioannina
We left late morning as Jacqui did a couple of hours work.
Before we left Meteora there was one last monastery Mike wanted to visit. This was
Agiou Nikolaou Anapafsas. A 14th Century Monastery famous for its 16th Century frescos.
On the way down from the Monasteries there was suddenly an amazing number of
butterflies fluttering around. Our journey to day took us across the Pindhos
mountains via the Katora Pass. This was another stunning journey.
We stopped
for 45 minutes at Metsova. This is a high mountain town consisting of stone
houses. It was very picturesque but also quite commercial. So we continued
through the Pindhos mountains avoiding numerous rock fall, snakes and tortoises
on an very quiet mountain road where we only saw two cars over a period of two
hours. Eventually we arrived in Ioannina which lies on the edge of a very
beautiful lake where we eventually pulled up to park. In the evening we
wandered along the water’s edge and watched some traditional Greek dancing. It
turned out that the following day there were to be road races along the front
so we decided to move the van to a quieter part of town. This proved to be
quite difficult as the whole town was buzzing.
Sunday 19th May Ioannina
We moved early back to the lakeside car park in readiness to
watch the beginning part of the race. After the first 10k runners passed us,
Jacqui did a little more work and Mike went into the Old Town to explore the 5th
century castle, various fortifications
and minarets built by Ali Pasha. Ioannina was the former capital of the Albanian
Muslim Chieftain Ali Pasha.
At 12pm we both went to a café where Jacqui had a good chat
with Daxa on Skype and Mike was eyed up by the waiter. We then had lunch by the
lake. After lunch we both had a laze. By 3.30pm the temp had dropped to 33
degrees and there was a good breeze so we decided to have a cycle. We started
off along the front to see where it would take us. We ended up cycleing around the
lake – 25k plus. It took a couple of hot dusty hours. At one point we crossed fields
through dirt tracks but overall it was a good ride. In the evening the town
again got very busy. No sign of a recession here.
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