Photos: Desley with the magnificent backdrop of the Holy Trinity Church (1476) in the background; me in the beautiful grounds of St Stephen; old Roman toilets at the ancient site of Dion; tourists: yes, they are all from our mega-bus!!; the cafe in Kalambaka where we had lunch.
Weather – sunny
Temperature – 30+ but much cooler than previous days.
We joined our new tour group after saying farewell to our fellow travellers from CHAT Tours. We enjoyed the smallness of the group which came into sharp focus as we boarded our new bus – 50 travellers on this bus with the capacity of ten more! If Delphi was the enchilada of Greek sites this bus was the enchilada of tourist buses. We are thanking our lucky stars we chose Peregrine tours for Turkey.
Today was the day I was most looking forward to: the Meteora Monasteries just a little way out of Kalambaka. There are six ‘living’ monasteries inhabited by nuns and monks. Our first stop was at St Stephen which fortunately we were able to access by a bridge high above the Dionic Alps. St Stephen was the first martyr and the monastery is home to 30 nuns. The nuns are clothed completely in black with only their faces exposed. The monastery was badly damaged by bombs in the Second World War and the church has been lovingly restored however it is not original. The nuns have created an exquisite site with stunning gardens.
Women and men must wear respectful dress when entering the churches. Men must wear pants below the knees and women are forbidden to wear pants. The nuns have wrap around skirts available for women to wear as you enter to allow access to the monasteries.
I was more impressed with the second monastery of St Barbara and Roussanou which was built in the 13th century. The bus dropped us off at the top and we accessed the church atop the high rocky pinnacle via a wooden bridge. This was a good idea as we could then walk down the stairs after our visit to the bus waiting for us at the bottom. We passed many exhausted travellers on the way up!
The interior of the church is beautiful: centuries old icons bearing the hallmarks of candle and incense smoke; divine wooden carvings and frescoes. The gardens are once again beautifully kept.
At both churches a talanton (a large piece of wood) is used to call people to prayer. The tradition goes back to Noah who used this method to call the animals to the ark.
We drove back into Kalambaka for lunch at a restaurant run by a local woman who served traditional Greek food from large pots. As it was an early lunch I couldn’t eat anything so I shared some of David’s meatballs which were delicious.
We drove for several hours to Dion at the foothills of Mt Olympus to explore the old archaeological site in Macedonia. Phillip II and his son Alexander the Great prepared for war here as well as building a town overlooking the Aegean. In ancient times the site was only 1 km from the sea but silt has now made the sea over 5 kms away.
We struggled to keep up with our guide – not because we were slow but there are so many people in our group. The guide starts talking before the group is assembled so I started interviewing Cameron, Desley and David to make sense of the notes I was taking and for the information I was missing. An example of this was the Temple of Isis which was bogged down in water and bubbling springs. Somehow I’d missed the fact that Alexander had actually diverted the course of the river to provide a temple resembling the Nile for his favourite Egyptian goddess! The diversion was unsuccessful hence the boggy area.
We traipsed around indifferent paths and passed the Villa of Dionysus (a vast 60 room villa), Roman baths, toilets and Greek and Roman stadiums. Although the site is of major archaeological significance much could be done to make the area more attractive (a whipper-snipper, someone to empty bins, collect rubbish along paths etc). Perhaps I’m being too harsh but the difference between the previous sites we had visited was very stark!
En route to our hotel we discovered the way was blocked as the Greek president was making a major speech to the nation. After winding our way around a block the police decided to let our mega-bus into the street to our hotel which is only a stone’s throw from the waterfront.
We dined at the hotel and met an Australian couple from Albury. They were relating their story of being robbed in Rhodes. The man’s wallet was stolen from his zipped travel pants. He was bumped by a woman and he immediately bent down to feel his wallet and it was gone. He couldn’t identify anyone when he looked around as the thieves are very practised at blending in with the crowd. Three others from the same cruise boat were robbed on that outing but one escaped as he had inserted a safety pin across the zipper in his pants and they were subsequently able to catch the thief. It certainly put us on alert for taking care of our goods!
We will be staying in Thessaloniki for three nights so some washing is in order!!
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