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Other entries in Kalambáka

Are you Catholic?

Spent most of today on the train today. Sat next to a couple of art historians (doing their masters in Italy). So that was interesting.

Got to this town, Kalabaka, only to realise I had missed the bus to Meteora. Found a cheap hotel, left my stuff, and then took a taxi up there instead.

Meteora is this group of over 20 (though only 5 or 6 are open to the public) fourteenth century monastries (I think), that have been build on top of these stone pillar things that have been eroded away from the main mountain/cliff face... Quite hard to imagine. Certainly I had a different idea of what it would be like before I got there. First went Grand Meteora, the biggest one. It was a bit like the Islamic arts museum in Istanbul in that I didn't know what it was that I was looking at most of the time, so I think the significance of a lot of things went over my head. Like following a sign to the "Chapel", only to find that it was in fact a room full of monks' skulls and other bones. Very cool, but why fill a chapel with bones? Met an Indian priest (couldn't figure out if he was on a pilgrimage or holiday), Father Marcus. He was very friendly, but I was left a little baffled as he had his wife and son with him... Perhaps Orthodox priests are allowed to marry...

Then went to another monastry down the hill, Varlaam Monastry. Much smaller, but in many ways nicer because it was a little (but only a little) less done up for tourists. There you could see the net that they could send up or down to winch supplies/waste/lazy people rather than having to carry it up the gazzilions of stairs, and also the absolutely MASSIVE wine keg (must have been a party up there...)

Then was walking down the hill further when a taxi, already with someone in it, pulled up to see if I wanted to get in. I figured it was about closing time anyhow, I didn't know when I would see another taxi, and while I would have liked to go into another one, I think they are all very similar. So I hopped in.

Now, the taxi driver was very obviously Orthodox. Apart from being Greek, he had Orthodox style pictures of Mary on his dashboard, beads handing from his mirror, and more to the point he spent his days shuttling tourists between Orthodox monastries. Then the guy sitting in the front (didn't see his face... sounded a little North American...) asks "So are you Catholic?" It was one of those moments when you are stunned into quiet awe...

Spent the night watching James Bond (the joys of hotels over hostels - often they have tvs).

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