Meteora Day Trip: Trikala Day 2 (10/20/19)
Uuummm, so this was incredible, just absolutely stunning.
Ok, so I got on the noon bus to Kalampaka, a tourist village at the base of the mountains/cliffs where the Meteora monasteries are located. From there I caught a second bus that took me to the Grand Meteoron Monastary, which is a wood and stone monastary built in the 14th century on top of these massive natural rock spires that stand 1800ft (550m) into the air! Just looking at them on the ride up the cliff-side made me feel like I was in a fantasy novel! The huge isolated spires, drop away cliffs, and dense valley forests were awe inspiring!
With a huge grin plastered on my face, I crossed the stone bridge connected to the Grand Monastery’s pillar and ascended the several hundred stairs up to the building. There was a little ticket booth where everyone had to wait in line so the monastery didn’t go over capacity, but once inside I just let the dopamine and childlike wonder take the reigns. P;d workshops, a WWII art exhibit, incredible courtyard vistas, twisting interconnected passages, and an inner sactuary complete with a saint’s lower jawbone for extra holiness. The building itself was super cool though, with three interconnecting floors that wound around each other that made just walking around feel special in itself.
From there I walked down the road to the next nearest spire which supported Varlaam Monastery. This one was connected to the hillside via a stone walkway that wrapped around an intermediate pillar, making for a twisted bridge over a 1000ft drop! And it was build in the 14th freaking century! Varlaam was super cool as well, with an especially impressive courtyard that opened up to a jaw-dropping view of the surrounding mountains, valleys, spires, and the town of Kalampaka in the lowlands far below. Just … wow. I spent a good while meandering around and admiring the view before the massive number of tourists got overwhelming in the early afternoon. So I consulted the map my hostel gave me, asked a ticket booth employee for some directions, and set off on a several hour hike back down to Kalampaka via a relatively untraveled route.
While the road is the main access to the temples, there are still the original footpaths that lead from monastery to monastery and back down into town, and are sometimes used for pilgrimage.. I took one of those ancient paths back down and was amazed at how empty it was. I only say one other hiking group the entire time which was in stark contrast to the human sea which covered the monastery area. Gorgeous hike through the woods and into the valley though. Now and then I would catch glimpse of the nearby spires towering over the foliage or the distant mountain range way off to the west which would put a smile on my face! There were pottery shards everywhere along the path too, not sure what from but it added just another thing that made the place feel special and full of mystery.
I eventually came to a large vertical crack in the rock face about halfway through my hike that looked like it might open up into a cave if I pushed through some undergrowth. And boy howdy did it! The crack was just wide enough to squeeze through sideways without my backpack but then opened up into a massive set of connected cave chambers populated with piles of fallen boulders. (Silent as death inside too.) I climbed around but didn’t go too far inside or up since it was an hour from sunset, I didn’t have a flashlight, and nobody knew I was there, so i didn’t want to risk a loose boulder squishing me or anything. Really cool cave though, I’m glad I decided to forgo my fear of spiders (there were webs all over the entrance) and climb in!
The rest of my hike down consisted of more idyllic forest, cute turtles, an old little foot bridge, and then a 2km walk along the mountain road with views of even more of those incredible pillars. I got dinner in downtown Kalampaka - Mousaka! Which was a really tasty eggplant casserole with what I think were puffy eggs on top. After demolishing that I bought a ticket for the bus back to Trikala, waited for an hour on a public park bench with my book, and bused back for a long well-earned sleep!
