Each time I come to Greece it feels a little like coming home. I’ve been spending my holidays here since I am a very little girl, and both my grandmother which I called Jaja (Greek for grandmother) and my parents have close ties to this country and introduced me to its beauty.
Crossing the border from Albania (the most secured border we’ve seen) and drinking our first Frappé (Greek cold coffee) in a little Kafenion evokes the same emotions this time. I am happy to be back!
We drive mainly on the highway, first south to Ioannina, then westwards up to the mountains. We are heading for Meteora, the region that is famous for its Christian Orthodox monasteries built on immense natural pillars and hill-like rounded boulders that dominate the local area. Even if we’ve seen pictures of the area, we’re not prepared for the real sight. Approaching in the late afternoon, monoliths suddenly appear on the horizon, dramatic, magical and unreal. There used to be 26 monasteries earlier, now only six of them are inhabited by monks or nuns.
We spend the next day visiting a three of them. Luckily, we are out early, before the busses with day tourists from Athens and Thessaloniki arrive. At both Monastery of St. Stephen and Monastery of Roussanou we can look around quite undisturbed, but when we climb up the steps to the Monastery of St. Nikolaos after lunch, it simply gets too much. The atmosphere of peace and seclusion, and the feeling of being closer to the sky than to the earth is destroyed. Pressing ourselves through hordes of other tourists, we quickly decide to leave.
We drop the last two monasteries open today and just drive by, enjoying the splendid views. It is hard to imagine how they managed to build these places. Dag and Robin leave me next to the Monastery of Great Meteoron and I walk the 5 kilometres back to Kastraki at awe of this breathtaking landscape. We’ve got to watch the old James Bond movie “For your Eyes only”, once we get back to Oslo. Parts of it are filmed here.
Next morning, we do a little hike from Kastraki following a small footpath leading to two smaller and less visited monasteries. They hang like birds nests high up in vertical rocks, one still being inhabited. Amazing! After a stroll through the market in the neighbouring town of Kalambaka and a good Frappé on the the main square, we leave the mountains aiming towards the coast.
We haven’t really planned our last days before reaching the Peloponnese. The island of Lefkada seems like a good choice, being reachable by car. We’re staying at a small campsite at Dessimi Beach on the East Coast, and it turns out to be the perfect place for swimming and exploring the bay with pedalo and on a SUP. In the morning we drive to the famous beaches of Porto Katsiki and Egremni – famous for its high sandstone cliffs and certainly stunning – but they turn out to be far too crowded for our taste. Boats bring in hundreds of sunseeking tourists from the main town and we hear their load music on board all the way up to the road. Not our idea of a day at the beach…
And then it is time to continue south to Vrisses, the southernmost destination on our roadtrip. We spend a week together with my parents in their magnificent house overlooking the coast.
We don’t do much these days but pass our days at one of the fine beaches, strolling through the nearby town of Kyparissia, playing games, enjoying good food and each other’s company. Sunrise and sunset every day are a highlight! Sunrise usually by myself in the early morning, sunset all together, drinking our daily Ouzo.
We have been here many times before and have explored many corners of the Peloponnese – recommendable if you haven’t been here yet. But this time it feels right just hanging around, relax and digest all the impressions we’ve collected on our way here. Holiday at its best!
RCD on Walkabout 