We arrived at the Thermopyles in the midst of the afternoon, so we had to hurry to our next location. Meteora. The name sounds familiar to most of us, but it has nothing to do with meteors or other cosmic things. Discover with us the sanctuaries of Meteora and the area around it.
But let’s start off where we last left off. We went from Athens to Delphi and visited the Thermopyles on the way to Meteora.
So our way was due north again, and we arrived in the late afternoon in Meteora. So we decided that the time was right for a regular Camping spot since finding a place in the fading daylight next to a small city can be quite tricky. Naturally, we took advantage of the facilities there and used the time to sort out Willie – the yellow Hell-machine which was quite a nice break from stealth-camping.
The monasteries of Meteora
With the start of the next day, we could see the magnitude of this place in full daylight, and it was quite a Jaw-dropping experience. So we went up into the small mountains to have a look at the area.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not particularly interested in monasteries, churches, shrines, and whatnot, and there are thousands all over Greece, so why these ones?
Glad you asked!
They are built on vertical rocks, not steep mountains or some sort of thing, but with vertical, I am talking: “Slipping at the top and hitting the ground just once.” That kind of vertical.
There are in total 24 different building complexes on the surrounding mountains. The first of them were built in the 14th century although the caves in the areas were housing monks already. But still, they were reachable. As Turkish soldiers began to raid the area, the monks decided that an untouchable building won’t get plundered, so they started building up in those rock formations.
The site has been declared a UNESCO World-heritage today, and out of the complexes, only 6 remained active until today. That said tho, you can rent an entire complex here to have a party or get married or stuff like that. So everybody who is thinking about a hidden gem is quite mistaken to think so since the area is full of visitors. You can even get into the monasteries for a small fee, but we both had no particular interest in doing so.
The weather was perfect this day and as you can see we were not the only ones with the particular interest in the buildings and landscape. Having said that, the whole region has much more to offer regarding activities. There are many routes to hike and bike around this stunning piece of landscape.
For us, the drive was more than sufficient to just look and think. The mixture of color and vegetation, as well as the landscape along the road, silences you on a natural kind. It’s like sitting on the coast, overlooking the ocean. You just shut up and start thinking about everything until even the thinking stops, and the only thing around you is the scenery before your eyes and the warm air filling your lungs.
The drive to Drama
After getting our fair share of sightseeing, we made the trip from Meteora to Drama, which is in northern Greece and was quite a distance to travel. We made a stop on the foot of the Olymp to get some food and decided to camp on the beach of Paralia, which I knew from previous stops.
Unfortunately, the weather was not quite as lovely as before since clouds and heavy rain moved across northern Greece. Luckily for us, that was just the drive since our location in Drama was a dear friend of ours with his family. The reason why I wanted to Greece in the first place.
The welcome was like coming home to my own family, and we spend quite some time together until one of us had to go back to work. (Hint: It wasn’t me) So I brought my friend back to the airport in Thessaloniki and stayed a few days more.
I will break a little bit of time off the Travel-Log and continue on the next Van-Life adventure when I picked up a girl, I never met before at the airport of Thessaloniki to meet up again with my sister, her boyfriend and start another exploration trip for a few weeks.
Every follower of the Blog will know a few things at this point since there were spoilers in other articles but that wasn’t even a fraction of what happened.
EU - Adventure 