Greece

 

Our final day in Greece was spent driving from Kalambaka back toward Athens. We fueled up the rental car and picked up a couple of packs of our favorite cookies! We became quite addicted to these on our trip! Buttery soft wafers with a creamy lemon center! Yum!

It was a drive through a beautiful mountainous region until we reached the outskirts of Athens. We didn't have much planned for our day except a restful afternoon by the sea. We did stop at an Athens mall just to check it out. I love picture books so I picked up a copy of my favorite, in Greek! 

I had planned all of our accommodations on the trip with the exception of the last night. I put Chris in charge of that. He splurged! We stay east of the Athens airport along the eastern coast of Greece in Vravrona. It was a beautiful setting right on the water. We spent the afternoon swimming, kayaking, and lounging. I may have taken a little nap! 

We kayaked to the other side.

We kayaked to this island.

Forgot to take a pic before I ate most of it! :-)

I just can't describe how valuable these trips are to me. Not really because of where we go, but because of who I am with! Time with my kiddos gets more and more rare as they get older. To have 10 days with my not-so-little-guy and my main guy making memories, having inside jokes, seeing sites that we've never seen and generally just hanging out together is priceless! This kid has big plans on the horizon which will likely mean fewer and fewer visits with him. I am so super proud of him and the direction he has planned, but it will be difficult. It made my time with him even sweeter! 

Thanks Jac-Jac for a fun time in Greece! I loved every minute!!

Greek Seek - Day 8

 

Greece's Meteora are giant rock formations in a more northern mountainous region of the country called  Thessaly, and they appear as if they just rose out of the ground to reach their great heights! There are two small towns just a the base of the Meteora - Kalambaka and Kastriki.  We stayed in Kalambaka at an Airbnb. It was a great value and location, a nicely done apartment, and our host was super nice! He lived in part of the home which was divided into individual apartments. And a bonus - we got to hang out with his guard dog, Buffett (pronounced like JimmyBuffett)!

Sign on the outside of the fence

Dog on the inside of the fence! :-) - Buffett

Buffett looking suspiciously at something he saw in the yard... :-)

We are definitely dog people and up until now, Greece has been all about the cat! However, Kalambaka has more dogs than we have seen everywhere in the past 8 days. So hanging out with Buffett for a few minutes was a plus!

We started our day fairly early by heading straight up to see the Meteora. The photos really don't do it justice. It is just amazing!

If you look closely at the rock in the center just above the green there is a person.

This looked like a face to me.

In addition to these amazing meteora, many of them house monasteries on the very top! Originally there were 24 monasteries. There are 6 remaining that are in use and operating with monks. Visitors are allowed but photographs can't be taken on the inside of the monasteries. The mere constructions of them is astounding. Some are larger and some are smaller. They continue to maintain the 6 in existence and have also added on to them. We visited 2 of them on the inside. They are rather extraordinary. Visitors, of course, can only visit certain rooms in the monasteries but in both, we were able to see the rooms where it appeared their ceremonies took place. They walls were painted elaborating from floor to the ceiling and also covered the ceilings. The scene told religious stories. Some of the monasteries contained nursing homes and hospitals. It wasn't clear if these were only used by the monks or if they accepted others.

We walked across the bridge to visit this monastery.

You can see the remnants of a former monastery here.

This is the first one we visited and my favorite of them all.

After visiting the second monastery, Jac had had enough. Crowds were thundering in! He said he started to feel like what he imagined Jesus felt like in the temple when he toppled tables in the temple because the people had turned the temple into a commercial affair!! I will say, if you want to visit these, spring or fall would be best! There were so many tour buses that started arriving from Athens and Thessoloniki. Jac wasn't too far off!

We headed back to the room and grabbed some lunch - more traditional salad for me and cheese crouquettes! Yum! We also got a taste of the locals hanging out killing time with each other. Kalambaka seems to have a large number of local men hanging out at various small restaurants. Maybe lots of retired folks? Not sure, but the women weren't doing the same! 

Complimentary dessert

We researched some places that we thought would be less crowded and after lunch, we went about 2 miles out of town and hiked back to a small church and other previous monasteries that are no longer in use. Hike was nice! So many wildflowers along the way. There were so many different ones that I started taking photos.

Not too far into the hike, we discovered an abandoned dwelling. We have no idea if it was a monastery or something else or how old it was. It wasn't marked. Jac hiked up to explore and took photos of the inside. It was very elaborate on the inside with what appeared to be various homes or rooms. This really reminded us of his senior trip from high school graduation when we visited the cave dwellings Mesa Verde National Park.

We continued on the hike and found two other cave dwellings. Once seemed to not be inhabited but still appeared to very intact. The other was definitely inhabited. It wasn't clear if it was inhabited by monks or privately owned. Either way, not sure how they get up there! We also saw the Panagia Church and another religious monument. 

These are close up views of the dwelling. Below are how the appear when you walk up. The zoomed out pics show you just how small it is compared to the rock formation.

 

Panagia Church

Not sure what these are - they are in several places - maybe for people to camp???

This one was definitely being lived in!

After the hike, we took a drive to find a nearby waterfall. Our original destination wasn't successful - no waterfall so we opted for a second option that was a little further away - about 40 minutes. It was well worth the drive! The first location Google maps took us to lead to a so many steps down. At the end of the steps was a stone bridge with a waterfall behind it. However, in front of it, we could see a lower area with parking that would allow us to reach the water. So, we found the road to the lower location and Jac was thrilled to have the area almost entirely to himself. The water was ridiculously cold!! He said he thinks it's the coldest water he has even been in. Chris stood in the water for a bit and I dipped my toe and quickly knew it was not for me! I don't do cold water!! It sure was beautiful though!! The bridge was will in the 1500s!! The waterfalls were created, though, in the 1970s as a way to help manage water flow to the farmlands in the area. Together, they make for a beautiful scene!

We headed back toward Kalambaka and drove up through the meteora again for some uncrowded views and then we got cleaned up for dinner. We dinner at a local tavern serving traditional Greek dishes and we each tried one. Jac tried moussake, Chris tried pastitsio and I had lamb. I have greatly enjoyed the food here in Greece!

These cats even beg... 

Pistachio Ice Cream

Tomorrow is our last day - we head back toward Athens to be ready to flight out on Wednesday. Just a slow day planned for the last one!