Thessaloniki, Meteora and More

Welcome to Greece, the birth place of Greek mythology, democracy, the Olympics and much much more. Alison and I safely arrived into Greece, via our overnight train from Istanbul to Thessaloniki. Knowing ahead of time that Thessaloniki is Greece's most expensive and metropolitan city we opted to stay for the day and then catch an evening train to Kalambanka. Thessaloniki is a big city but with a little pre-planning it can be seen in just a few short hours. First we needed to get our grounding and what better way to do that then following the LP's suggested walking tour. The walking tour had us start at the top of this hill where there is a castle and a viewing platform. As we gazed out over Thessaloniki we took in as much as possible knowing our time here was precious. Following the tour we stopped and admired the architecture of the churches, took pictures of old ruins, visited some national buildings and ended at Thessalonikis most beloved landmark, the White Tower. The irony of the White Tower is that it was actually covered in blood. In 1826 Ottoman Sultan Muhmad II ordered that all Islamicised Christian boys who were disloyal to Islam were to be massacred here. Once the Greeks regained power in 1913 they had the tower whitewashed as a way to cover up the dark memories of which occurred there. Taken back by this awful truth we sat by the water side and just took some time to reflect and relax our legs. After our rest we walked over to the port to have a look around and also visited the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography. The Museum was in between exhibitions so it wasn't completely filled of works but what we did see was great. The museum has decided to hold pieces for each of the four elements. The works will be up for a year and the one they were currently wraping up was on water. All of the pieces gave a unique perspective of water but one of our favorites was the over flowing kitchen sink. With a bit of time left we walked the streets a bit more and picked up some food and drinks to enjoy on our train ride.

Their is really only one reason for why people travel to Kalambanka and that is to visit Meteora. Meteora is this extraordinary place for its massive pinnacles of smooth rock and at the top sit these architecturally crafted monasteries. There are 24 monasteries which have been built at the top of these pinnacles but only 6 of them are currently active and can be visited. Of the six monasteries we saw five of them, walked past four and visited two. We would have liked to have seen all six but since we had only our two legs to get us around and visiting hours being limited we simply couldn't manage doing it all. The two monasteries we did visit are called Moni Megalou Meteorou and Moni Varlaam. The first one built on the highest rock, 613m above sea level, and was founded by St. Athanasios in the 14th century. The Moni has a 12 sided central dome and holds a series of frescoes depicting the persecutions of Christians by the Romans. The second one is near by and quite a bit smaller but had a small museum of late byzantine frescos. The views from these Monis is absolutely amazing and to think that they were built between the 11th and 14th century is just amazing. It is claimed that the monis were reached by climbing removable ladders, that's just crazy.

From Kalambaka we backtracked a bit to a town called Vergina so we could visit the Royal Tombs. Vergina is apparently the legendary burial site of the Macedonian kings and happens to be where Phillip II was assassinated during his daughter, Cleopatra's wedding. The Royal Tombs were not discovered until 1977, and inside lay four individual tombs. The two most famous tombs are the one of Phillip II and the second being of Alexander IV, son of Alexander the Great. It is believed that inside Phillip II's tomb also lay the skeleton of Cleopatra. Either way its grand to think that it could be possible. Aside from the possibility that maybe Cleopatra was buried here I was shocked at how preserved the tombs were. They still had such vibrant colors and the building structure is still in good form.

Content with our decision to backtrack, yet anxious to get to Peloponnese region we took a night train to Athens. Thinking we were going to have seats on the night train we thought traveling through the night would be a good way of not wasting time or money. Well the idea back fired once we boarded the fully packed train and then were told by the train conductor that we had no actual seat reservations. Exhausted and not mentally prepared to stand on a train for six hours, we coped quite well. Eager to find something to do to pass the time we thought why not engage in a broken English conversation with the Greek boys standing around us. The idea turned out to be entertaining and funny. There were five guys, four were on military holiday and the other one was originally from Albania but had moved to Greece for work. All of them were very nice and before we knew it we were in Athens. Well the time didn't quite pass that quickly but overall the train ride did go by and we survived the sleepless night of standing on a train. Once we arrived we decided it best to continue our travels and ride three more trains before we finally arrived in Olympia.

Exhausted from traveling, our first day or half of day in Olympia was spent sleeping and recovering. The town is very touristy yet ironically lacked tourist especially backpackers, we were the only backpackers in our hostel. For our one and only full day we spent our time exploring the Museum of the Olympic Games, the Archeological Museum, and toured through Ancient Olympia. It was suggested by the handy dandy LP to first visit the museums so we could get a better visual of what Ancient Olympia looked like. The historical museum is probably one of the best museums we visited, it gave short but detailed information on how the Olympics began, the events which took place, and people who attended. One observation we both noticed and thought interesting was how not only currently but as well as then the games bring this unspoken peace treaty among every human being. After our visit we walked over to Ancient Olympia and toured through the archeological museum. There is very little information but displays several statues, part of the Temple of Zeus, and holds several pediments. Now that we had a good imaginative visual of Ancient Olympia we went and explored the Olympic grounds. Wow, was it amazing, one of the best things we have seen so far. With the lack of tourist we simply walked around visiting the sites and enjoyed the peace and quite. The first thing we saw was the gymnasium which was built inn 2nd century BC. Pheidias' workshop is where the Statue of Zeus was sculpted and is whom the games were held for but sadly it was destroyed like most everything here. In AD 426 Theodosius II decided to have the temples be destroyed for the games and festivals held here were considered pagan. Prior to him ruled Theodosius I in AD 394 and during his rule he simply put an end to the games and it is from this date to the year 1896 no Olympic games were held. Both of us were shocked to read how current the Olympic games were reinstated. As we continued walking the grounds we saw the Temple of Zeus where one of the columns was restored and re-erected for the Athens 2004 Olympic games. We sat in the stadium and envisioned the runners sprinting the 120m track. And the coolest thing we saw was Hera's Altar which is where the lighting of the Olympic flame takes place. The lighting signifies the official beginning of the games. Being there and seeing where the Olympics began gave me a new found appreciation for the games. The Olympic games is really the only time where people from all parts of the world come together in peace.