A scenic bus ride out of Albania; snowy and mountainous, entertained at the Greek border bus stop with stray dogs and puppies (nice watching the border patrol guys get bags of dog food from their cars and feed the dogs).
Dropped off in the parking lot of a cafe on the edge of town, which made a lot of sense since although we were now in Greece, the bus originated in Albania (see last post). We walked towards our lodging in the town of Kalabaka. A typical walk for us along an unsafe road with Patricia complaining about the road being unsafe as we hugged the edges when cars and trucks passed. And then this appeared in front of us.
Pictures do not come close to showing how massive these are. A series of enormous pillars shooting out of the ground creating a compact forest of rock, like rainbow magic rocks from childhood. But these were not the only awe inspiring features.
At the top of the columns were massive monasteries plus one convent, all built in the 1300s.
We took a bus up to the top to the first monastery, Agios Stefanos, then walked to Roussanou, Varlaam, Great Meteoron, Agios Nikolaos, and Holy Trinity.
We walked, of course, on a somewhat narrow road, which would have been a bad idea in the high season.
Stopping frequently to pause and stare.
Again, another example of people the finding highest point(s) in an area, and then the insane addition of a seemingly impossible to build religious structure (or sometimes defense structures). Gods and Wars, describes almost all of history.
So many buildings, in so many places, massive edifices, exceptional efforts. Tsarevets in Veliko Tarnova, Bulgaria. Mont St Michel in France, Santuario Madonna di San Luca in Bologna, the Alhambra in Granada, Spain……. Just crazy in terms of devotion, labor, and engineering ingenuity.
In awe, we then returned back to town, following a path down through the Meteora.
Return to Kalabaka.
Chosen Fugue 