10 5-6 KALAMBAKA

OCTOBER 5

We left the Athens hotel at 8:30 and spent most of the day driving from Athens to Kalambaka. The most impressive thing about the town are it's surrounding mountains, no really mountains, but rock formations that tower over the valley. The reason that people go to Kalambaka is to see the monasteries and the convent that are built on the tips of the monoliths. How the original builders got up there is amazing, especially in the 14th century. As you can see in the picture below they are pretty spectacular. Actually pictures do not do them justice. We could not get one that showed just how inaccessible these places are. Some of them are now open to tourists. They have built roads to near them and stairs up the rocks.

This one is the Monastery of St. Nicholas Anapavsas

This is how they get supplies up to the monastery. Now it is powered by electricity but it was man powered. It also carried monks and doctors up there.
In order to enter the monastery, women must wear skirts. So if you don't have one they lend you one of these designer skirts.
Today we visited the Convent of St. Stephen. It was abandoned by the monks and the nuns got permission to use it. It is the most easily accessible. In Greece the priests and nuns are paid by the governments, since Greece has a state religion, Greek Orthodox.

OCTOBER 6

Today we went to the Monastery of Varlaam. It was not as easily accessible. We had to cross over a stone bridge over a deep chasm, then climb a huge amount of steps. No one counted them. On the way we saw other monasteries perched on rock tops. Amazing. The insides of these monasteries are covered in icons. Not very light viewing. Most of the icons are of torture of saints and other people.

We went to an icon making workshop. They showed us how they make icons now. They look pretty much like the old ones, which is the plan.

Now about our hotels. They have been pretty nice so far. The strange thing is how low the beds are. They are pretty comfortable, but you wouldn't hurt yourself if you fell out. We never got to use the pool, since it was too cold, both the weather and the water. Nice looking tho.

Gasoline.....1.169 euros per liter. That comes out to about $7.02 per gallon. Put that in your pipe and smoke it :)