Our Strange and Unpredictable Backpacking vacation in Greece! During The COVID-19 Pandemic (Meteora Day 9, 10, 11 &12)

Varlaam Monastery....Aren't it FABULOUS & MAGNIFICENT!

Day 9 (18th March 2020) On our way to Kalambaka.

After a few hours of sleep in our Piraeus Hotel room, my alarm woke us up at 5.30am to prepare our 5 hours train journey to Kalambaka. The Piraeus Train station is about 10 mins walk from our hotel, we reached there at about 6.15 am. Waited for a while for the ticket window to open. Sigh.................was told the morning train from Palaeofarsalos to Kalambaka was cancelled due to COVID-19. There was only one train daily going to Kalambaka ie. at 6.20pm from Palaeofarsalos, will reach Kalambaka at 7.16pm., OMG SO...SO... SAD.....& DISAPPOINTED!!
So, we got the tickets to Athens station first; at 6.44am and waited at the Athens Central Station for the 3.22pm train from Athens to Palaeofarsalos then @ 6.20pm to Kalambaka!
Another WHOLE day wasted for travelling, was supposedly to reach Kalambaka at 11.30 am now at 7.20 pm!!!.
Really..... all our plans went HAYWIRE!!
Still our spirit weren't dampened, I was so looking forward to visiting Meteora!! (The City in the SKY) and TICKING my bucket list!!.

The below pixs is the Athens Railway Station, we were so happy to see the train arriving!
The colourful train below is the train plying to & fro Palaeofarsalos and Kalambaka.

The town of Kalambaka

Kalampaka with about 12K citizens and is situated on the foothills of an extraordinary geological phenomenon, the giant cliffs of Meteora. The town, at 207m above sea level, guards the approach to the Meteora, was burned to the ground by the Nazis in WWII, and is now almost entirely of recent constructions.
The history of the town began more than 3.000 thousand years ago, reaching back on the borderline between the myth and the history! dating back to the Byzantine period.

The Hiking Map of Meteora

Ya, we really reached Kalambaka by night fall about 7.15pm. Luckily we found our Airbnb apartment easily, thanks to the very precised direction from our host. Its only a short walk diagonally across the train station and is located right in front of a big Supermarket called Galaxias with its big yellow sign. Once after our self-checked into our apartment, we went to the supermarket to get what groceries needed for our stay here. By now, our main diet these few days were Eggs; hard boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, egg frittatas, omelettes or egg & ham sandwiches, with lots of zucchinis, tomatoes and carrots plus hams /cheese with breads. Sometimes if we have the time we will boil ABC soup with chicken. For those who do not know what is ABC soup: is a mixture of carrots, tomatoes, big onions and potatoes in equal proportions with meats boiled together as soup.
We will be staying here for 2 nights and tomorrow will be dedicated to visiting the Monasteries. We look forward to a good night sleep as we hardly slept last night.

Day 10 (19th March 2020) Kalambaka & Meteora

As Usual, we woke up about 8.00am, cooked & ate our breakfast and packed lunches for our outing. Our first destination was to look for the Tourist Office in Kalambaka, From our apartment we walked north towards the giant cliffs of Meteora!

Along the way, we noticed most shops and restaurants were closed for business except Pharmacy, fresh fruits & vegi stores, Mini markets and bakeries were opened. At last, we found the Tourist Office, but as expected was closed! So....now no idea of how to go up to the monasteries except to hide-up! Now.........I have to download the hiking maps. Was prepared to get some kind of transport or bus up to the monasteries and hike down or join a morning tour!! No tour agency were opened, it was like a dead town in Kalambaka.
Opposite the Tourist office we found a taxi que, we inquired if the driver could take us to the highest monastery. For 20 Euro he took us to The Grand Meteora Monastery and he said we could easily hike down and on the way we could visit 3 other Monasteries.

The Grand Meteora

The Taxi driver dropped us at The Grand Meteoron Monastery, he informed us this is the biggest and hightest Monastery. A bit of history here, The Meteora was named the Cultural UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988.
Meteora literally mean: "middle of the sky", "suspended in the air" or "in the heavens above"
Meteora Monasteries was build during the 14th Century, by Byzantine monks. searching for refuge from the Turkish invasion, by then there were as many as 20 monasteries of all sizes constructed here.
Earlier than that, was believed that during the 9th century, hermit monks first climbed these soaring stones to settle in the caves and hollows of the rocks. As hermits, they lived a life of solitude and isolation but legend has it they would climb down on Sundays for mass, held at Doupiani. By the 12^th century, Meteora was home to a thriving ascetic community.

When I alighted from the taxi, my first glimpse of The Grand Meteoron right in front of me and on my left; pillars of gigantic stone spread before me, I felt I was in dreamland, there was an ecstatic explosion of thoughts in my head that surpassed all reality in this moment of my unrequited feelings...........All these majestic pillars with its crowning glory on top, it really blew my mind. I felt an indescribable feeling of AWE, RESPECT & AMAZEMENT, and I further wondered how could mankind construct these religious magnificent MASTERPIECE!! was beyond my imagination. Photographs or videos do not actually capture the splendor of this incredible views right before me.

The Varlaam Monastery

The Raussanou Monastery

We explored and walked around the front entrance of The Grand Meteoron a while and proceeded to hike down to the next monastery, The Varlaam Monastery. As all the monasteries were closed for visitors due to Covid-19, both of us just hung around outside its compound and take pictures. Of cause, another reason to come back in the near future!! Next, to the Roussanou Nunnery is just along the main road going downhill. Here we encountered two cute cats posting of us.

Almost at the bottom of this road, is the St Nickolas Monastery, here we had our packed lunch, climbed the many steps of the monastery onto its balcony. From this view point, we got to feasted ourselves with breathtaking scenery of the surroundings. The weather was very beautiful, sunny but not too strong and with a bit of wind. We walking along the main road, there were hardly any vehicles, only two beautiful loving cats siting on the roadside ledge enjoying the view and weather like just another beautiful day!

On the balcony of St Nickolas Monastery

Out of the twenty-four monasteries emerged a crossed these period only six are still active at present. Out of which two are Nunneries : St Rousanou and St Steven Monastery.

Photo taken from the St Nickolas's balcony.

Below the operating hours for all the Monasteries:

SUMMER TIMETABLE – April 1st to October 31st
MONASTERY	OPENING HOURS	CLOSED ON
Holy Monastery of Great Meteoron	09:00 to 15:00	Tuesdays
Holy Monastery of Varlaam	09:00 to 16:00	Fridays
Holy Monastery of Rousanou	09:00 to 17:00	Wednesdays
Holy Monastery of St. Nicholas Anapausas	08:00 to 16:00	Fridays
Holy Monastery of St. Stephen	09:00 to 13:30 15:30 to 17:30	Mondays
Holy Monastery of Holy Trinity	09:00 to 17:00	Thursdays
WINTER TIMETABLE – November 1st to March 31st
Holy Monastery of Great Meteoron	09:00 to 14:00	Tuesdays , Wednesdays and Thursdays
Holy Monastery of Varlaam	09:00 to 15:00	Thursdays and Fridays
Holy Monastery of Rousanou	09:00 to 14:00	Wednesdays
Holy Monastery of St. Nicholas Anapausas	09:00 to 15:00	Fridays
Holy Monastery of St. Stephen	09:30 to 13:00 15:00 to 17:00	Mondays
Holy Monastery of Holy Trinity	10:00 to 16:00	Thursdays

Once we were at the base of The Meteora mountains, we passed by a few wineyards and then walked through the village Kastraki before reaching Kalambaka.

An abundant Monastery here inside the cave

By the time we reached kalambaka, was already late afternoon, we hung around the town area.... window shopped in Cakes shops and Pharmacies. As we have not purchase our train tickets for Athens, we went across to the train station to inquire about the departure time. Since the happening of Covid-19, all schedules were either cancelled or rescheduled. Bad luck, the ticket counter was closed, its was written, it will be reopen later this evening after 6.30 pm. We later went back and gotten the ONLY train going to Athens @ 7.00am the next morning.

Finally we went to our neighborhood supermarket to pick up ingredients for dinner and for our train journey back to Athens early next morning. We found the ION "Break" Chocolate bar originated from Greece @ 1 Euro per pc, delicious....very similar to Germany's Ritter Sport

Day 11 ( 20th March 2020) Going back to Athens

Woke up real early next morning at about 5.30am, packed our things, including our breakfast and lunch, tidied up the apartment especially the kitchen.

We reached the train station at about 6.40am. the train arrived 10 minutes later.

When we boarded the train for Paleofarsalos, we are the only two passages, even the Train station was deserted. The transfer train to Athens was almost empty too.

We reached Athens by 10.30am, checked into our hotel just across the Athens Central Railway Station; Larissa. We will be staying the night at Ariston Hotel and tomorrow morning we will be taking the train for the Airport at about 6.30am to catch our flight back to Singapore.

Walking down the street to the hotel, we could feel there was a big change in the city, it felt gloomy and very very quite with much less traffics and pedestrian. It was a big different from before the 'lock-down' and before our trip to Santorini. It was like.....we came back to a different eras of time, gone.... were those vibrancy and buzz. It was more apparent when we walked from our hotel to Omonia Square looking for dinner later that evening. Almost all restaurants were closed....so there wasn't any take-outs. Most pastry shop were opened but we were looking for local food!! Its our final day in Greece!!! We wanted to taste some local cuisine like the grilled calamari or Moussaka!.

The Pastry shop at Omonia Square.

Finally we found a take-out stall selling New York Burgers!!. No choice.... have to eat Yew York burgers and fries in Athens.

Day 12 (21st March 2020) GOING HOME!!

The next morning we check-out after breakfast in the hotel and boarded the train from Larissa Train Station towards the airport.

The Airport was dead quite, Greece had closed its boarder earlier this week. Most check-in counters were closed with lights switched off. Below is the Athens International Airport without passengers except the two of us.

We found our check-in counter at the far corner, there was a handful of passengers waiting to check-in, the situation at the counter were solemn and tense as the ticketing officer kept on phoning to confirm if they are allowed to check in certain passenger especially those passenger who are not Singaporean but departing for Singapore.

Our flight, which was the last flight out to Singapore, will arrive at Singapore local time 3.30am on 22nd March 2020, we received news afew days ago, that Singapore will close its boarder to foreigners as of 22nd March 2020 onwards.

So there was some chaotic moments here.