Meteora and Ioannina
Kalambaka, or Kalabaka, is a beautiful place. The town is established at the base of the towering cliffs where the monasteries are built, and monks live today. Like other Greek towns, the streets are narrow, with one-way roads everywhere. However, this town was smaller, and it felt like it despite the closeness of the buildings. We must be getting used to it. When we enter town, it's on a main strip. It's lively but not too much. The vibe was relaxed and didn't look overly crowded. As we followed the directions to our Airbnb, where we would stay for the next three nights, I navigated very narrow streets with cars parked on both sides. We arrived at our place and had to find street parking as close as possible. Luckily, we didn't need to park very far away.
The place we're staying is called Stacie's Garden, which is lovely. It has a common area with a covered table and chairs where we can eat outside. The renters live next door and have their herb garden by the eating area. This place is so relaxing that it almost makes you forget why you're there and stay in. There is a comfortable, cushioned porch swing outside, just perfect for a nap.
We arrive and talk to our hostess for a few minutes. She was incredibly sweet, which makes the stay that much better. It's about 9:00 PM when we get there, so we drop our stuff and take a quick walk to a market for a late dinner. We get food for breakfast and lunches while we're there. After dinner, we get to bed because we have to get up early, according to the kids. The first monastery we are going to opens at 9:00 AM and we want to get there early enough for good parking and to be ahead of the tour buses.
Surprisingly, we leave on time in the morning. As a result, we got a good parking spot and got behind only one tour bus. The first monastery we went to was the Monastery of Varlaam. The entrance is a path against the cliff wall and a high rock wall opposite. It bends to the right and opens to the monastery above and the view below. We cross a bridge to get to the rock formation for this monastery. There are lots of stairs to climb as they switch back up. The dress code for these monasteries is that men must wear pants and shirts with sleeves, and women must wear long skirts or dresses with sleeves, not form-fitting, and no cleavage. They provide wrap-around skirts for women who are wearing shorts or pants. It's 3€ a person except for children under 12. We expect to pay for four of us but find out 12-year-olds are free also. Great! It will cost us 9€ per visit instead of 12€. A little cost savings is always a good thing.
After paying, we walked up some more stairs into the courtyard. We pass the entrance to the museum and gift shop on our way up. The courtyard is gorgeous and overlooks the town and the valley below. It is lined with benches built into the stone walls. There is greenery and some small trees around the space. We go up the stairs leading into the church. There is a main room with chairs on one side and paintings of Jesus, the apostles, and various saints on the walls. In the sanctuary is a large chandelier, and paintings cover every inch of the walls, columns, and wooden structural beams running between the tops of the columns. Unfortunately, we aren't allowed to take pictures. The paintings are scenes from the Old and New Testaments and other saints.
We move from here through another door leading outside onto a second-story porch. This takes us around to the area where the monks used to hoist up people and supplies in a large net. The original man-powered pulley is still there. It consists of a vertical trunk with a wooden beam going through and a thick rope wrapped around it. A monk would push the beam and walk in a circle, either uncoiling the rope to let the net down or vice-versa. They used a pulley system until the early 1900s, and there was an old motor with a wire rope attached, which acted as a winch to raise and lower a basket. Neither are in use anymore.
Around the corner from here was another room that housed an enormous barrel. It held over 3,100 gallons or 12 tons of water or wine, whatever they used it for. It was incredible to see both in size and construction. Leaving this room led us to another doorway that entered the other side of the area where we could enter the museum. We went down and saw the bathrooms, so we took care of that and had a surprise. The toilets were holes in the ground with plastic grips on either side, so you didn't slip. There was an English-speaking tour group, mostly older couples, and several decided to use the bathroom. My favorite part of this trip was hearing people's reactions to finding out the toilets were "squatters" and refusing to go at all.
We checked out the gift shop and hung around because some tour groups were leaving. Now we could enjoy the outside courtyard more. It was peaceful, and we could get pictures of the view and monastery without people in the way. We enjoyed the serenity for a while before leaving. At the car, we ate lunch before driving to the next monastery. There are six of them, and all are a close drive to each other. As we approached the next one, we noticed lots of cars were parked on the side of the road. It was about midday, so parking spaces were filling up. I pulled into the first spot I could fit, and it just happened to be next to the path leading to the monastery. What a blessing!
This monastery was featured in the 1981 James Bond movie "For Your Eyes Only." The walk to it was the most difficult of all. It was the longest, and the path descended before ascending, with the most stairs to climb. Along the way, there were some rock outcroppings to explore before getting to the stairs leading up the side of the cliff. There was a tunnel to go through that barely fit two people, which made it more fun. When we reached the top, we rested on some benches to catch our breath before entering. There have been stray cats everywhere, and these monasteries are no exception. We pet a sunbathing kitty and went inside.
Entering here was much different than the previous monastery. Instead of going into an outdoor courtyard, we entered a main room. It had a low ceiling, tiled floor, and square stone columns that looked relatively new. To our right was the loading area where they brought up supplies. It looked similar to the other monastery's pulley system, with the same equipment to haul things up. Near this was an old monk "cell" where we could go inside. It was quite a small room, maybe less than 10x10 ft, and a 7ft ceiling. It had a small bookshelf built into the wall and a small window opposite. Leaving this central area, we went outside onto a walkway that had a private small building with a garden that went almost to the edge of the rock. Further down was a large rock outcropping, and we could go up and enjoy another spectacular view. Past this, a low rock wall was built to the cliff's edge, facing the town and valley below. Close to the edge was a large cross that was lit up at night. We spent some time here taking pictures and talking to other travelers.
By this time, the kids are done and ready to go back. We return to the car and stop by a grocery store before arriving at our place. Since we were only staying a few nights, we grabbed pizzas to make dinner. It wasn't late in the day when we returned to the Airbnb, so we had enough time to relax and enjoy the sunny weather. Tanya and I sat outside on the swing and discussed the day and upcoming plans. She went inside, and I took a short nap while lying on the swing. It was great to have enough time in the day to unwind from our earlier activities.
We heard about some incredible sunset viewpoints on the road where the monasteries are, so we went back up later that afternoon. Tourists were well informed about this because people were beginning to park before we arrived, and the sunset was in an hour. It was a large rock outcropping, so the kids could have fun for a while. I picked a spot at the front edge and took in the expansive view. I noticed the top of another smaller outcropping just above the trees close to me. I found a small path leading to it and climbed up to a point that provided an equally good view as the other but without anyone around. Happy with my discovery, I let the rest of the family know, and we gathered here to watch and take pictures of the sunset. It did not disappoint. We drove back afterward and enjoyed our pizza and baked cheese balls for dinner.
The next day, we only planned on going to one monastery. We left in time to get there before 9 AM, when we thought it opened. I was thrilled we got a parking spot in the main lot near the entrance and beat the tour buses. We walked up all the stairs to the front door, which had a beautiful porch to one side, and saw some people milling about but not going in. The front door was closed, so I walked up to find out this monastery didn't open until 9:30. OK, we'll wait a little longer. When we did go inside, there was a hallway leading up past the pulley system into a central area. You could go left to the museum, straight into a courtyard and beyond, or right to the church. We went right to look at the church first. The paintings on the walls and ceilings in the first room depicted the torture and killing of the apostles and other saints. This room's purpose was to have anyone see what was happening to Christians at the time and whether he truly wanted to give his life to Christ and become a monk. It was educational but sad to learn of these persecutions.
Leaving the church, we went to the courtyard and admired the surrounding building. The stone path leads to another courtyard at the cliff edge with more spectacular views. There was a gazebo-type structure where we could sit in the shade to enjoy our surroundings. We spent some time here taking more pictures and seeing the view from every point we could. Tanya and I walked back up the path to visit the small museum. It had papers and books from the 9th century and other artifacts from the monastery's early history. There was also a part dedicated to the Greeks fighting in WWII. An interesting painting showed a Nazi soldier falling from one of the cliffs with a swastika flag. He was "taken down" when he attempted to plant the flag atop a cliff. I don't know if he was shot or thrown over. We wrapped up our visit here and, at the request of our rock-loving middle child, looked for any more areas to rock climb.
It was just after lunch, and we drove to another monastery because that's where the road ended. We didn't plan on going in but realized it was a nunnery and changed our minds. While waiting to pay, an older nun being helped out the door stopped and started talking to our daughter. We don't know what she was saying, but something about her really caught the old nun's eye. She must have said something about her looks by the way she lovingly caressed her cheek. It was one of the sweetest scenes I've witnessed. Our daughter said thank you in Greek, and it seemed like it made every nun's day. They were ecstatic to hear her say that. After such a tender scene, we walked in feeling the love of this place.
Our path led past the gift shop on one side and the museum on the other to a small courtyard. Like the last monastery, the church was to our right, and an open court overlooking the valley straight ahead. We explored the church and went back outside for the views. We heard a bell ringing and realized they were closing for part of the afternoon. We had been there briefly, but this small monastery was beautiful and quaint with so much character. It was cute to see the nuns walking around instead of monks. We were so glad we chose to visit this one.
We packed up that night to leave the following day. Our plan was to drive back to Ioannina, where we would stay for a night and catch a bus the next day to Gjirokaster, Albania. We arrived in Ioannina a few hours before our check-in time. A nice part of town is next to a lake and the remains of a castle. So we decided to have lunch there. It was a popular place to be for lunch, so we struggled to find a parking spot. I pulled into a parking lot by the lake that looked full but hoped for a spot. I saw a car with lots of room on either side but not quite enough that I could fit. It was a small car, and I seriously considered asking my sixteen-year-old to help me move it over sufficiently so we could park. I stopped behind it and was looking it over, figuring out how to move it, when a car behind us backed out of its spot. I hurriedly jumped back in the car to snag the space. This was a tremendous blessing. I wonder if the Lord was also looking out for me by making sure I didn't hurt myself trying to move a car.
This lot was next to a park, so we found a shady spot to sit and have lunch. It was next to the lake and peaceful, with excellent views of the mountains surrounding the water. Despite the graffiti on so many things, it didn't feel unsafe. We were also near the castle walls and decided to check out what we could while waiting for check-in time at our next place. There was a one-way street coming from inside the wall, so we followed it. Surprisingly, there was a neighborhood inside here. I read about how the remaining walls still cover a large area, but I just realized homes were built within. The streets and houses were just as quaint and fun to experience and walk through. There was another entrance with a small museum about the castle that happened to be closed at that time. We walked more through the skinny streets and came to an old mosque with ruins around it as well. After exploring, we walked back to the car and headed to our next Airbnb.
We arrived a little early, but our host was there with his father, cleaning the place. He showed us around and said they would be done cleaning soon. The guy and his father were so nice and eager to tell us all the places we should go around town. We left so they could finish, and the kids waited in the car while Tanya and I walked down the street to look at a church. The gate was open, so we briefly walked around the courtyard. We read a placard describing how Christians were forced out of the castle by the ruling Turks, resulting in the surrounding neighborhood and this church being built to maintain the Christian community. Finding the church and the placard was a great history lesson. We walked back up the street and saw our hosts coming out from cleaning.
Our new place was great, and we wished we could have stayed longer. It was time to relax until dinner after exploring earlier. We planned on going out to eat tonight and get some traditional Greek foods we had yet to eat. The Airbnb was close to the main area of restaurants and shops so we walked. It was another fun and lively scene. The crowd here was more "touristy" than Patras, so there was more diversity. We found a restaurant our host recommended and had some traditional cuisine like moussaka, pastitio, saganaki, and more. Like all the restaurants here, most of the seating was outside, so that's where we enjoyed our meal. When we finished the waitress brought us small cups of different dessert options topped with a type of whipped cream as a thank you. They were so delicious.
Earlier this day, we discovered that the bus we needed to our next destination left at 6:00 PM. This gave us time to go to Vikos Gorge, for which we thought there wouldn't be time. It was less than an hour's drive from Ioannina, and we got to go through some cute, small mountain towns along the way. Quick fact: Vikos Gorge is the deepest gorge in the world relative to its width. It is 2,950 feet deep and 3,600 feet across. Before we left town, we stopped at the bus station to put some bags in luggage storage. I could fit all five main bags and a backpack in the back of the car, but that left four backpacks at people's feet. This way, the drive there and back would be more comfortable. We must have picked a great day to do this because there were only a few other cars in the small parking area. From the trailhead, there was a wide stone path going down and around a rock face. We also noticed a worn path going up next to this rock face and decided to go that way. It was a great decision. The gorge was just on the other side, and we got a full, unimpeded view from atop the rock outcropping. I could see the viewpoint the path led to below, but I liked mine better. This was a great spot to enjoy lunch.
Tanya, being the excellent mother she is, couldn't relax with the kids being around vertical cliff drop-offs. They were loving it and wanted to sit at the edge. She couldn't even look if they got too close. With less of a sense of self-preservation and calling it "having fun," I sat at the edge with them. Yes, I'm on high alert watching my kids, but I still find it exhilarating to be so high and on a cliff's edge. After a bit of exploring and not wanting to push my wife's nerves to their limits, we went down the stone path to see what the other lookout point had to offer. We went back to the car and stopped at an area called the Stone Forest, which was just a short distance down the road. It had lots of vertical rock structures that looked like flat stone slabs stacked up. They were great for climbing and lizard hunting. If there is anything my middle son likes more than climbing, it's catching lizards. He was darting between rocks and caught a few. We only spent a little bit of time here, but it was a fun experience.
On the way to return the rental car, we dropped off our sixteen-year-old and all but a couple of bags at the bus station. This way we could take just one taxi back from the rental office. We returned the car, took a taxi back, and waited for our bus. We had enough time to run across the street to the grocery store for some snacks. It was hard to think this was our last day in Greece. We have done so much, and we are getting used to our way of life. In some ways, it didn't seem like we had been here five weeks. It felt good knowing how much we've seen and all the connections we made. Our next stop will be Gjirokaster, Albania, a new country!
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