Greece, Land of Coffee and Monasteries

I thought I'd better bring you up to date on my travels in Greece.  They were short (1 week), a bit limited (3 places) but that was all part of the grand design ... after all, my main objective was to get to Albania.  I flew into Athens and after tussling with their Metro system (it's actually very good - it's just that I was tired) got to my rather swish room just behind Syntagma Square.  I like Athens.  The traffic is chaotic, it is HUGE, it is always busy but the people are so lovely that you forget any minor inconveniences.  And the men ... they will do anything for you, no matter how scruffy, grumpy or tired you're looking.  It does wonders for your mood, it really does.

These are gyros (that we would call souvlakis) - delicious!

The obligatory changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Syntagma Square

Syntagma Square - a green and shady oasis 

I wandered around the city, buying the necessary train and bus tickets for my next destination, soaking in the atmosphere of the place and a substantial number of coffees.  I hate to say it, but Melbourne is NOT the coffee capital of the world ... it has to be all of Greece (well, all the bits I saw anyway).  Every third shop is a coffee shop and all the accommodations that I've stayed in had coffee machines (I know, I know!) and even the coffee at the bus station was magnificent.  I didn't have a bad coffee the whole week.  I also soaked up some culture at the Archaeological Museum, and then went out and drank more coffee.

This was an amazing statue - a jockey on a racehorse - which had only been discovered in 1926 in a shipwreck

My favourite piece in the whole museum - this beautiful duck-shaped bowl was carved from a single piece of rock-crystal

If there wasn't a coffee shop, there was a patisserie selling boldly coloured, obviously sweet cakes

I left Athens for the Meteora.  This is an rocky outcrop about 350 km north.  I had been there before but had visited in peak season so it was scorching hot and teeming with tourists.  I hadn't stayed long and wanted to go back and really explore the region.  Oh my! It's an impressive place.  Kalambaka, where I stayed, had these smooth grey towers of rock, looming over the town.  

View from my balcony

The Meteora is a collection of monasteries, each perched on top of a shaft of limestone (conglomerate).  To reach each monastery requires walking up (and then down of course) steps, often cut into the rock.  I’m just grateful that the steps are there … in the past, people were hauled up in nets!  It’s still how they get supplies to the monasteries … I watched two men loading up food and boxes into the net at one place.

The first monastery I visited was Varlaam (a mere 150 steps up) where I paid my 5 euros and wrapped a scarf around my naughty, sexy knees.  The monastery is beautiful (as were all the ones to come), clean and tidy … and (apart from tourists) pretty much empty.  There used to be 12 monasteries but half were destroyed, either by the Ottomans or the Nazis … they used the Great Meteoron as a lookout post in the war.  The six remaining monasteries have been protected by UNESCO since the 1980s and once they did that, the tourists came.  Bang! went the peace and serenity that the monks needed, so they left.  There are a few monks and nuns still there, just to run things (and rake in the cash) but these monasteries are beautiful, empty shells.

That doesn’t stop them being beautiful.  They are full of the most exquisite icons and manuscripts, some dating back to the 11 century.  Each monastery has a church (no photos) that are covered wall to ceiling with amazing paintings, gold and silver chandeliers suspended above intricately carved altars.  Tapestries adorn walls and the icons glow with gold leaf, some with the faces peering out from behind silver reliefs.  Stunning!

I found this tapestry fascinating, since it seems to show all the internal organs of Jesus

I then went to Great Meteoron, 300 steps up, more beautiful items and gorgeous views.  I was fascinated to see the monks’ prison, a large vertical cave in a towering rock, that had wooden platforms going up the cave.  This is where the monks went when they thought they were (a) losing focus, (b) had been naughty or (c) were suffering from temptation.  Three or four days later (no food or drink) they went home.  As a self-imposed punishment, it sounds quite extreme.  It would be cold, wet, precarious to say the least.

There are only a few of the wooden platforms remaining

My last monastery was, to be accurate, a nunnery called Roussanou (210 steps).  Initially, all monasteries were for men but there are now two that are for women.  This was the smallest of all the monasteries and the nuns were obviously excellent business women … I was hard pressed not to leave without buying some honey or skin cream or at least an icon of St Barbara (patron saint of coalminers!).

The Kalambaka Mushroom Museum - "Aah! You are Australian" the woman said.  "You must come and see these ones."  Ok, yes, they are death caps ... but I hope the whole world doesn't now think Australians are either (a) hopeless foragers or (b) homicidal maniacs who try to kill their own families! 

This is a souvlaki - meat on a stick with the obligatory limp chips

My next (and last) stop in Greece was Ioannina.  Now I've never been there before and mainly went because it is the logical place to get a bus to the Albanian border.  It's a big commercial city, spread along the edge of Lake Pamvotida and it is also a tourist town.  No! Not for people like me ... for Greeks.  It was another beautiful day today so I decided to head to the appropriately named “The Island” … an island (in case you couldn’t guess) in the middle of the lake.  

There are 8 monasteries there, most of which were built in the 16^th century.  I walked up to the first one, the monastery of Agios Nikolaos and went inside the church.  Oh my!  It was superb … but also incredibly gruesome.  Many paintings showed the martyrdom of saints and there were no punches being pulled by the artist.  There were people hanging upside-down on crosses, being flayed (the rolling back of the skin was quite graphically shown), being disemboweled and the tortures went on. 

This was the only monastery open so I kept walking around the island, marveling at the waterbirds (lots of crested grebes) and the colourful lizards scrambling out of my way.  Back to Ioannina, and I had a delicious lunch of lamb and vegetables cooked in paper.  I was amazed at the quantities of food being eaten by my fellow diners … I think the lunchtime meal is the biggest for the Greeks.  Afterall, everything pretty much closes after 2pm and then they eat and eat and … In the evening, they drink coffee (which they also do all day!).

Next post ... ALBANIA!