Down the mountain once again, SIri had had it with us at this point—telling us to turn left through guardrails on steep mountain passes and routing us through wall scraping paths into cobblestoned towns where it becomes unclear if you are on a road or in someone’s outdoor market. No one yelled at us so I think we were fine…. You might want to ask Brant’s opinion on this. He thinks Siri decided to kill us. We decided to change to Ms. Waze for a while but she only deals in Greek words and that alphabet is not friendly to the average GDI as opposed to those former sorority/fraternity members.
For the first time it was challenge to find a restaurant for lunch, we were definitely in the farmlands of Greece. We found a town and a restaurant but finger pointing and pantomiming seemed somewhat unsuccessful but perhaps a waiter? who spoke a bit of English brought us 2 toasted sandwiches with chips and a big beer for the 2 of us—total—5 dollars. He knew the menu was useless unless we ordered a Sigma Neu, or a Sigma Alpha Epsilon…… We thought he did not understand what we were asking for when he zipped away on his motorcycle with coffee drinks balanced on the handlebars of his motorcycle but he was back quickly to make those sandwiches. I think he thought we were very lost….
Suddenly we were at Kalambaka. Huge boulders the remnants of an ancient lake or debris from a rushing river created these monolithic rock towers. Monasteries are perched on the very top—-and of course we dumped our luggage, admired view and headed out—-to tackle the steps up to the monastery. We earn those cocktails! Not surprisingly it is a favorite among rock climbers—one German rock climber used his phone app to get us on the right trail. Not sure how he walked with all those carabiners hooked to him. It was unique and beautiful but and slightly odd. Not surprising much filming happens here—-Game of thrones for example
So drinks, dinner, BFGB and off we go again——next stop the mushroom museum in town before we head to Volos. I know what you are thinking—-a mushroom museum? But it was great! I could not resist sharing my “Mushrooms of Maine” post with one os the staff. She caught me off guard when she asked if I spoke Spanish. She told me she was a latina at heart and had was self taught in Spanish. She had been to Mexico City and hoped to return. We had a wonderful conversation about Mexico and mushrooms. Once again we are reminded what a globally connected world we are in—-surely this will eventually convince leaders what a waste of money war is! Or how much easier to get underground resistance in place.We hope we get to show her around Los Barriles some day. The casita will be waiting for her.
Would we return: If I learn to rock climb I would definitely return to Meteora. Perhaps to see it in the snow? They sometimes get a meter of snow in the winter.
Life's Been Good To Us So Far! 