Meteora Memories

I am excited to share some photos and thoughts on what I consider one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to.

It all started at the end of December. I had a unique and well, frustrating, start to my winter break. I had to cancel a planned trip due to obstacles I had with my residence permit. This left me feeling upset and sad to be missing out on this opportunity I had planned for.

A few days later I decided that I was going to take a little excursion and visit a place within the country that I hadn’t been to. I planned this trip to Meteora, an area in northern Greece amongst mountains. I began to research this new place and booked train tickets and accommodations and two days later I went on the journey to Meteora.

I took two trains to arrive in the town of Kalambaka. This was actually my first time taking a long-distance train, and it was overall not too bad! I enjoyed the views that were unlike Athens, and some areas even reminded me of all the farmland back home in Wisconsin.

I kept myself busy and even wrote a suite for beginner orchestra on the train ride! I’d say it was a productive use of time.

I finally arrived in Kalambaka and was greeted with a great view. I made my way to my Airbnb and stopped to enjoy the view as you entered the apartment.

I regrouped and decided it was time to get some lunch. I did a bit of searching on the web and decided on a small restaurant that was about a 15-minute walk away. It ended up being delicious! I tried something new, and I am quite a picky eater, so this was good for me!

After walking back from lunch I stopped at the Airbnb and picked up my laptop. I went and found a coffee shop/bar/restaurant/all the above establishment. I asked for a seat with a good view, and I have to say, I was highly impressed! I enjoyed two cappuccinos and got some more work done.

It was cool to see this location go from sunlight to the night sky over the course of an hour or two. It was breathtaking seeing the sun setting against the mountainous rocks.

The next morning was the day I was going up to Meteora to visit the monasteries, and I was definitely ready for this adventure! After driving a few kilometers from Kalambaka we arrived at Meteora which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. My tour bus stopped and let us get out to take some pictures and the base of the rock structures.

We kept driving and stopped the bus at the base of the first monastery we were going to visit that day. It was daunting, looking up at how tall the monastery was… but slow and steady wins the race.

The oldest monastery in Meteora was built just before the mid-14th century. It was difficult to imagine how these were built back in those days. The inside of the monastery was beautiful and in the back there was a garden area and in it stood a beautiful cross.

I soon became friends with some of the other people in the tour group, which was a four-hour excursion by bus to Meteora.

I overheard a discussion and instantly realized it was in Chinese. I introduced myself and soon enough we began conversing in Mandarin. It felt extremely random to be making friends by speaking Chinese in a remote location in Greece… random but lovely! (Also, all of the photos you see of me were taken by these new friends in were in the group!) The Ayi of the group (older auntie) would often take my hand and we would walk together discussing various topics together in Chinese, and she would teach me some new words. It felt like quite a small world!

The more we drove through Meteora the more in-awe I felt. Every which way was breathtaking. We drove towards the last monastery we would explore for the day.

In this specific monastery, nuns lived on-site and ran the monastery. It was special to see this way of life and tour the beautiful grounds.

We had finished visiting the monasteries for the day and began to drive back toward the town. I enjoyed the views that surrounded me.

The tour was nearing the end, so it was time to make our way to ‘sunset rock’. This attraction is known as being the best spot in Meteora to enjoy the sunset. It definitely did not disappoint! The views were breathtaking, in a way that a camera truly cannot capture.

The tour bus made it to the center of Kalambaka and they announced, “We’re in the main square! Who wants to get off?” At that point, my new Chinese-American friends said, “We will!” At that moment they invited me to join them for dinner, so I also got off the bus. It was a wonderful last-minute decision. I was proud to share with them my knowledge of Greece in terms of food. We had a beautiful taverna feast. It was lovely to share time with these new friends around the dinner table.

The next day I headed back to my home in Athens. I was greeted by my wonderful Tsoureki.

Overall, this was a lovely trip that felt much needed. Feeling very grateful!

Thanks for reading.

❤️
~Anna