Meteora, Greece

The sunshine did return.  However, so many students (and some of the teachers) got sick, that last week was filled with coughing and sneezing.  Unless they are extremely ill, the students come to class sick and thus spread the cold to others.  Friday two of the teachers were so sick that one (Karina) stayed in bed all day and the other just managed to get up for her 3 o'clock class.  Karina and I had bought tickets to go to Meteora on Saturday and I really didn't think she would be up for it.  However, she was ready to leave at 7:30 and we walked to the train station for the 5 hour train ride.  It was an interesting trip through fields of cotton and other crops.  After we arrived at 1:15, we dropped off our bags at the hotel and started hiking up to the monastery.  We reached it after 3, sweaty and hot, but happy to be in the clean air.  Since it was a lesser known monastery of the 6, there were few people and after checking out the exhibits, we sat out on the terrace and just enjoyed the peace and quiet.
We hiked back down to the town and took showers, then I found a cafe to write postcards and have a glass of wine while Karina rested.  We went out for dinner-- Italian (we were ready for a change from traditional Greek)-- and then walked around.

We went by a spa and Karina wanted to see if they had pedicures at that time.  They didn't, but they had "fish spa" which seems to be a thing all over the world except in America.  I had never hear of it and the idea of little fish in a tank eating the dead skin off of my feet didn't sound appealing.  However, Karina dared me, so we each had 10 minutes of "fish spa."











We went back to the hotel and went to sleep in order to get up early and catch the bus up to the farther monasteries.

Sunday, we got up and had breakfast and caught the bus to the biggest and oldest monastery which is the farthest from the town.  There were many more tourists.  We visited 2 and had a picnic.  we were walking to the 3rd and went into the bushed on the side of the road (having forgotten to use the bathroom at the last place,) when Karina found lots of cash scattered around the forest floor.  It was 1100 Yuan or $25.  I asked her if she had also found a body, but luckily, the only thing there was money.  We decided to donate it to one of the monasteries.  After visiting the third one, a nunnery, we started walking down the very long road back to town and decided to hitchhike.  Luckily, we were successful since the road winds far out and back.  We bought some food from the bakery and had some juice at a cafe before catching the train at 5:30 for the 5 hour ride back to Athens.  It was a long trip, but the good exercise in the fresh air and peaceful surroundings and the amazing monasteries from the 1400s made the journey worthwhile.

 

Vaarlam Monastery (my favourite)