Meteora

       Yesterday I got up early and got breakfast at a local bakery before catching a bus to Kalambaka. Kalambaka is situated just below Meteora. Even on the bus ride there, I could see the huge rock outcroppings from the highway. When I got to Kalambaka, I walked over to an old Byzantine church. There were so many old paintings inside telling different stories, mainly of the martyrdoms of different saints. This seems like a common theme in many of the churches here in Greece. From there I set out in search of an old footpath that was originally used by the monks in the region. There were a couple times that I thought I had found it, but both times I was led to a small shack with a yard full of chickens. I kept walking until I left Kalambaka and came to the nearby town of Kastraki. I decided to take a side road that lead off of the highway just before entering the town. This road led up a rocky hill and past some caves. As I walked further I noticed, high in one of the huge rock formations, some caves with old wooden platforms built outwards from them and a little ways down, a monastery built directly inside the rock. I took another road that seemed to lead to the area and came upon a small church. I kept walking until I reached the wall where these cave hermitages were located, but was unable to reach them, so I just looked from below. I couldn't go any further because the road was blocked off, so I headed back to the road I had been on before. I kept walking until the road led me into a neighborhood of Kastraki. I found another church here and next to it was a set of decaying wooden stairs that led up the hill and into the forest. I figured that this was the path I had been looking for, so I started up the stairs. A little ways up was yet another church and then a small, but well worn path leading deeper into the forest. I followed it until I came to the top of the hill and to the other side where the vegetation opened up and and I was in a sort of valley in the middle of a circle of four or five huge rock formations. It looked like there was a way to get out through a narrow passage between two of these rocks, so I headed up a steep, rocky hill in its direction. After climbing a ways, I realized that there was no way I was going to make it through, so I headed back to where I had come from. After backtracking all the way to the church below the stairs, I found another small path. I walked down this path, past some emaciated, but vicious looking dogs into another part of the neighborhood. Here I came upon a narrow cobblestone path that lead up another hill. It was a beautiful area to hike in. The there were flowers of every color blooming, light green trees, and epic rock formations everywhere. Many sat precariously on thin bases on which balanced a much larger and heavier looking top. As I got deeper into the forest, the path split several times and I was never sure if I was on the right path, or if any of the paths really led anywhere. Finally, I arrived at a road just below the monastery of Saint Nikolaos Anapafsas. I took a brief rest before climbing the stairs to the monastery which is perched on the top of a smaller rock outcropping. After seeing the inside of the monastery and enjoying the view from the top, I headed back down to the road. I walked the wrong way down the road for a bit before realizing it and heading back the other way to another path. This path was the most strenuous of all. It was made almost completely of stairs made of poorly placed cobblestones, so with every step I was worried I would twist my ankle. I was already exhausted from all the hiking and from the heat of the sun, and by this time was realizing I had bit off a little more than I could chew, originally expecting that I could easily walk to all the monasteries. I finally arrived at the top of the stairs where the Megalo Meteoro monastery is. I was out of, water, hungry, and over exerted. I made my way up the steps of the monastery. This monastery is the highest and most popular of the six monasteries in Meteora, and is very nice inside. Its set up like a museum showing what the life of the monks who lived there would have been like (there are no monks living in any of the Meteora monasteries anymore, although monks from surrounding monasteries often visit and perform liturgies). There was even a room filled with the bones of all the monks who had lived there before. After that I decided I was done going inside the monasteries and I headed down the scorching highway. I took in some amazing views near the Varlaam monastery and continued walking down the road past the three other monasteries until a found myself back on the path that had originally led me to the monastery of Saint Nikolaos. I headed back through Kastraki to Kalambaka where I ate a gyro and caught a bus back to Trikala. When I got back to the hostel I spend some time talking to an Australian couple and then walked over to a nearby Turkish Mosque. After that I went back to the hostel and spent the rest of the evening drinking cheap Greek beer and watching soccer with a Brazilian and a Czech. Today I am going to Thessaloniki. I was going to catch a bus at 10:30, but its full, so I have to catch the one at 1:30. Now I'm sitting in a smokey cafe that's attached to the bus station, watching a Greek man smoke his fourth cigarette in a row and listening to a mix of Greek and American pop music.

I'll try to post some pictures and write more later today or tomorrow, but I can't make any promises.