Meteora Greece, Albania, Macedonia

Travelled:240km Greek Tolls €2.40

Stay:Macedonia- St.Naum Monastery on Lake Ohrid-mixed parking area 150den/€2.50 N40.9156 E20.7453

Visit: Great Meteoron Monastery Greece, drive through Albania, St.Naum Monastery Macedonia 

We spent a pleasant couple of hours this morning visiting the largest, oldest and highest  Monastery in Meteora. It was founded in 1340 but has been and continues to be refrurbished. 

We were first in, paid our €3 each, made sure we were correctly clothed and then enjoyed strolling around the various areas open to the public including a room with all the previous monks’ skulls, the old kitchen, the beautiful Orthodox Church, the museum with religious relics, the cellar and of course the amazing views from the terraces. 

As we walked down the 300 or so steps back to Bluey we were happy to have arrived early as the buses and cars were lined up down the road. We then drove to have a look at the Holy Trinity Monastery that had been used in the James Bond Movie ‘For your eyes only’. We could see why this location was chosen as the Monastery has the most dramatic location sitting on a slender rock with sheer drops. 

We then drove anticlockwise back to town and admired the rock formations from a different angle and light.

 Then it was on the road again to Albania. We stoppped for lunch next to the lake in Kastoria, the fur capital of Greece. 

We got stung one more time with tolls but only for €2.40, our departure gift as we left Greece. The border crossing wasn’t too bad, except for some cars and ‘walkers’ pushing in. It took us about 1 hour to get through both control points. 

We then took minor rural roads towards Progradec on Lake Ohrid. Along the way we could observe how people live and found similarities with Romania, especially the horse and carts.

Presume this is a war bunker..

 We drove along the lake for a short distance before we were once again waiting at a border crossing, this time from Albania into Macedonia. 

It was quite painless taking about 40mins. We had chosen a parking spot just across the border at St.Naum Monastery that also borders Lake Ohrid. We paid €2.50 to park and then went to have a look. The surrounding park land was very nicely maintained with numerous restaurants (with free wifi!) and people were enjoying swimming in the lake as well as small boat trips around a crystal clear river to the spring.

 The Monastery itself was founded in 905 and St.Naum himself is buried here in the church. 

On our way back to Bluey we enjoyed a bit of dinner.

 We noticed a very ferry full of people and presumed they were returning back to Ohrid town which we plan to visit tomorrow.

Vikos to Meteora Greece

Travelled:192km

Visited: Zagori area, Meteora

Stay:Meteora- Guesthouse Arsenis, free parking but need to eat dinner €11pp, water available 39.708500,21.654600 

After a peaceful night we went to have a look at some stone bridges near Kipi. 

We then drove out to the end of the road to Vradeto and went for a pleasant walk out to another lookout to Vikos Gorge.

Electric fence to protect the Bees from bears

From here we had to return via Kipi and we took the road less travelled to Miliotades. Mark had to concentrate as some parts of the road had been washed out and collapsed. 

Got worried here that we wouldn’t be able to cross...

We then took the scenic route past Metsovo and stopped for lunch at an abandoned ski resort.  Our GPS then took us along a road towards Panagia that had a warning sign “enter at your own risk”! It didn’t take us long to figure out why with parts of the road missing, but most of it was passable. As we exited the road there was a STOP and oneway sign going the other way. 

From here on we were on the road the Meteora, recognisable by the increase in traffic. We drove through Kalampaka which is at the foot of the Meteora area, which has a beautiful rock formations. 

On these hill like rounded boulders there are 6 (of the original 24) Eastern Orthodox monasteries, each with their own story, built during the 14th to 16th century. We followed the road and stopped to admire the breathtaking landscape. 

As it was too late in the day to visit the monasteries we made our way to Guesthouse Arenis, where parking is free but you need to have dinner. 

At 7pm we ventured down to the dinning room and enjoyed a kebab and sausage with all the usual trimmings, along with other guests (we were the only motorhomers). 

Then it was back to Bluey for another peaceful night.