For your eyes only

 

 

Anyone who is huge James Bond Fan, especially the era of Roger Moore will recognize the picture that headlines todays entry.  Meteora sits in the geographical centre of Greece that was once home to 24 monasteries built literally into the foundations of an ancient sea bed in the largest fertile valley of Greece.  Occupied and abandoned for more than 700 years starting with a community of hermits that lived in caves carved from the sedimentary rock and then by orthodox monks in chapels that literally perch on the peaks of otherworldly rock formations, seemingly defying gravity, the area is now a protected world UNESCO site with a unique history and character.  Of the original 24 monasteries, only 6 remain today and comprise an active community of Monks and two Nunnery’s attracting hundreds of thousands of tourists, religious and non-religious alike who empty their pockets to witness the spectacular views and structures literally built into the underlying rock, blurring the line between structure and stone.  

As promised, our driver and tour guide extraordinaire George pulled up to our lodging promptly on time at just before 7am and we loaded the luggage into the van and headed northward into the endless suburbs of Athens, the concrete jungle of the city soon giving way to the lush greenery of the countryside but not before making a pit stop at what George called a “food paradise” to pick up some breakfast.  On our travels, George seems to know all of the best restaurants and places to eat and again we were not disappointed in the large variety of sweet and savoury offerings on hand which filled a large box for the 5 hour journey.  

Along the way we saw evidence of recent fires that had closed the highway just the day before, the acrid smell of smoke wafting into the car as we passed trees that had burned literally feet from the road, which had acted as a natural fire stop. 

About 100 kms out of the City is a massive man made lake created to supply water to the ever expanding city, hillsides literally covered in acres of solar panels and wind turbines perched on ridges of the mountains that line the longest valley in Greece, abundant farm land that hosts fields of sunflowers as far as the eye can see, surely a spectacular sight in the Spring.  The main crop being Cotton which is sponsored by the EU. 

The highway system is well maintained but tolls are not cheap, our trip will cost $40 Euros each way and the toll booths arrive with the regularity of scheduled trains, George is well practiced in the routine of speed, stop, wait, drive as we pass through no fewer than 9 booths before we start the climb up the local roads into the hills that wind down into the Central Valley.  George tells us that these roads are the home of the Subaru Acropolis WRC rally. A new highway is being constructed that will cut the trip to Albania down to 6 hours from 9 and will significantly improve the central part of the country’s access to points in all directions and we drive a section of the road where we feel like we have a brand new 2 lane road to ourselves, our own “private highway” with no cars to be seen for miles. 

After what seems like an eternity, we see a series of unremarkable hills in the distance and George remarks that looks can be deceiving as those low hills are our destination for the afternoon.  Leaving the highway we drive through the town of Kalabaka and head up on a windy narrow road with steep drop offs and like out of storybook, we see the first monastery appear, perched on a towering stone pillar surrounded by an amazing landscape of eroded stone pilllars, followed by another edifice and yet another stunning vista around every corner.  Rounding one corner I get the feeling that I’ve seen this building before, and George soon confirms that it featured in a James Bond film, For your eyes only with Roger Moore.  

Not surprisingly we are not the only tourists that ventured onto the path less travelled to see this amazing place, as tour bus after tour bus, rental cars and vans jockey for precious parking spots at the few points where the narrow road widens to crate a shoulder wide enough to park on.  

Soon enough George pulls into the parking area of St. Stephen’s monastery, now occupied by no fewer than 30 nuns who, despite a desire to live a monastic life now put up with hordes of visitors on a daily basis from 9 to 5, a surprising juxtaposition of two worlds colliding due to the sites UNESCO status which mandates that they have to be open to visitors.  Of course the 3 to 6 euro entry fee compensates for this significant inconvenience and pays for the  upkeep of these buildings which must cost a considerable sum.

Our guide Maria is an excellent companion as we tour St Stephen’s and then Santa Barbara and we get a crash course in the Orthodox religion and key aspects of an Orthodox Church.  We learn the meaning of the word Fresco which involves the application of paint when the plaster is still wet, necessitating a quick hard and if a mistake is made, the application of a new layer of plaster to cover it, the original whiteout.  The walls of the antechamber to each sanctuary we visit are adorned with colourful scenes of incredible violence, demonstrations of the sacrifices made. by Christians persecuted at the hands of the 400 years of Ottoman rule meant to inspire pilgrims to undertake similar sacrifices in their service of god and the goal of eternal life.  

One memorable image sticks in my mind of a particularly unfortunate individual literally sandwiched between 2 flat boards of wood, with large wooden screws joining the pieces in the process of being tightened to literally squeeze the life of the unfortunate soul.  The depths and range of torture that humans can devise to inflict on each other knows no bounds.   Maria is an excellent and knowledgeable guide and protective of her “flock” as she berates other tourists that photos are not allowed and to be quiet.  

In both monasteries, the Nuns are ever present, at the ticket office and in Santa Barbara monitoring a sophisticated security system with 6 large screens at a low wooden desk, leaving the desk at one point to light sacred candles and incense at an altar, the modern and ancient worlds colliding in front of our eyes.  

After taking what seems like a thousand photos of these incredible structures we bid farewell to Maria and head back into the town below for an another amazing meal in the town square, George is 4 for 4 at this point and we leave well fed for our journey over the majestic western mountains into Delfoi where we will sleep tonight in anticipation of our last day in Greece before heading to our 3rd continent of our trip. We have started our regimen with the taking of out first malaria pill, which will we now take for the next 3 weeks and beyond on our journey into the dark continent.