We throw our salty clothes (from the ocean and from sweating so much) into our bags and we're off in our trusty Fiat Panda. (FIAT=Fix It Again Tony!) We head northeast toward Prevasa thru Arta to Ioanina. The roads are amazingly good and this time they built many tunnels through the mountains so we don't have to drive over the top like last week! We are on our way to Meteora, the Monastic City of Rocks. On the way we stop at a small roadside cafe; the only customers are 3 old Greeks playing backgammon but we are hungry. One of the men gets up to wait on us and we point to our choices as he doesn't speak English. He sets our table then goes away. We figure he is the cook too. Sure enough, he brings our food, tzatziki, saganaki (the best so far) and tomato salad. An old couple drives by slowly and we smile as we sip on our wine. They turn around, pull in and ask if the food is good. Yes we say enthusiastically. They are greek too but speak a bit of English. I take a picture and he salutes me with his glass so I show him on my camera. As I prepare to take another one with Bruce in it he jumps up, comes over and toasts Bruce with a big smile for the camera. We all have a good laugh as we check out the picture. I love these moments. And 14.50 euro ($19cdn) for this finest of dining!
We can see the rock spires towering in the distance as we approach Kastraki but when we get close to them, we just cannot believe it. The pictures do not do it justice and I am very happy we chose to stay here for 3 nights!
Well I did have a moment of doubt about our hotel choice. We saw a sign for the Pyrgos Adrachti so Bruce turned around and squeezed up a narrow lane behind the place with the sign. We both thought the place looked dumpy from the front; well you should have seen the back! Depressed, I walk around to the front to find the office, knowing that we will just have to lose our deposit as we are not staying here. I start laughing out loud when I notice that there are big arrows on the sign pointing us further down the road!! Thank God. We hop back in and follow many more signs through steep, narrow, one-lane streets up and up till we arrive. This hotel looks much better and when the lady opens our balcony doors I get tears in my eyes; our view is beautiful beyond words! We are surrounded by towering spikes of mountain and we see 2 guys climbing towards the peak of one.
We decide to check out the area; there were 24 monasteries built over the years and six remain open today. There is only one that does not require climbing stairs, St Stefanos, so we choose to visit this one. The views make you want to give up all things worldly and enter monkhood. More on the monasteries tomorrow.
As we are leaving, who do we run into but Jim & Jean from the boat! What a small world! We decide to meet for dinner. In the village we stop at a store for some olives and wine and sit on our balcony watching the mountain climbers through our binoculars. After a late dinner we tumble into our comfy bed.
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