Into the Land of the Gods
Greece, Early January.
We are on the hunt for fresh fruit and vegetables. The village that we are passing through has a small mini-market that stocks little but convenience food. People clearly eat fresh food, so it’s just a matter of finding where people buy it. I can see plenty growing in gardens, but decide to drive to the next village instead of raiding a stranger’s veg patch. By chance I spot a fruit and veg van and after a series of dubious driving manoeuvres set Rosana loose on the unsuspecting vendor.
Our park up for the night is on a community campsite, perched atop a hill overlooking the mini-market village. It’s January, cold and wet and unsurprisingly it’s not very busy, just us and a guy in a caravan. Shortly after arriving we are joined by an old boy on a moped and the the fruit and veg man who toots and waves to us.
The old boy is busy preparing a bbq. It’s an impressive installation, reminiscent of the parillas of South America. I think that he’s telling us there’s a free BBQ tonight. I am wondering what sort of event is happening, after all, there is no such thing as a free lunch.
There’s clearly a language barrier issue here but we are lucky – the only other occupant of the campsite, an Athenian in the caravan speaks good English and is able to bridge the gap – the BBQ is for campers to use if we want, to cook our evening meal.
This is great, except we are completely unprepared and have nothing to cook on a BBQ. We quickly make some burgers and spend the evening warming ourselves around the fire while burning burgers and finishing off the last of the Christmas Baileys. The weather joins in the (post) Christmas spirt and it starts to snow.
On the Rocks
The area of Meteora is geologically impressive. Great rocks protrude hundreds of metres into the sky like giant termite mounds, towering over the villages below.
What most people come for though are monasteries, built high on the hills as the monks try to get closer to their god. There’s a visitor car park in the hills that gives easy access to the Monastery of the Holy Trinity but we’re not most people and we park in the village of Kalabaka and hike up. It’s not a long or particularly arduous walk. It is a bit tricky trying to find the early parts of the path, but once we’re on it there is no danger of getting lost.
All around there are impressive structures built into the face of the rocks and lots of cave conversions but it’s not until we reach the top that we gaze in awe at the monasteries perched in the sky. The Monastery of the Holy Trinity, the one we can visit is not the most impressive, but the view from the courtyards is amazing. Along with he monasteries and hills, we notice a big green expedition truck across the valley in the visitor carpark.
Sensible People
We’ve been chasing some friends across Europe. Matt and Lucy (and their dog Minkey) are ex-HiAce owners, having made the sensible decision to move to a larger and more modern van for their journey. While we’ve been in northern Greece, they have been enjoying the beaches, historic sites and sunshine of southern Greece. Finally our paths cross, on a frigid beach just outside the Mount Olympus national park. They are running low on their Schengen days and are making a run for Türkiye, so the meeting is brief but we manage to take in the Mount Olympus visitor centre together.
While we are wandering the visitor centre and getting better acquainted with the Greek gods of old, Rosana recognises some other visitors in the centre and outside we find a big green expedition truck parked alongside our vans. It’s German plated, but they are Danish. Matt and Lucy have also seen them before in Athens. Our happy group of travellers chat awhile before we say our goodbyes. Our friends head east, and we decide to head up the mountain to find the old monastery. The Danes have lunch.
Daft Mistakes
It’s not long before we see patches of snow on the road. Then ice. I’m not happy about this, I have no experience of driving in these conditions. The road is a type very familiar to us now, narrow, twisty and steep. Barriers protecting us from plummeting over the edge are few and far between. We look for somewhere to turn around but there is nowhere.
The road turns to ice and I make the mistake of stopping. Trying to reverse doesn’t work, all steering input is ignored and I’d rather not risk heading towards the edge. Forwards doesn’t work, the rear wheels just spin. It is time to play Godkuki!’s joker, but he’s old school and first I need to lock in the front hubs. I exit the cab onto the steepest ice rink I’ve ever experienced. I lock the driver side hub and then slide around to the passenger side as nonchalantly as I can.
I can see Rosana is worried and my job is to make this look like it’s a normal every day occurrence (I fail). With 4wd and low range gears engaged the van pulls forward effortlessly. With the van moved further away from the edge I can reverse safely and before we know it we are back on tarmac. A seventeen point turn later we gingerly make our way down the hill using the low range gears to avoid braking on the ice.
We see the big green expedition truck heading towards us and I stop to give us both more space on the icy corner. They stop to ask as what the road is like. Too icy for us, we reply. They move off and the truck slides, luckily away from us. We move around the corner to get out of the way and then walk back to see if any help is needed; the truck is going backwards but manages to find traction and forward motion.
Outside the new monastery, still quite high above the town below, we stop on a large gravel viewpoint. We’ve had enough excitement for one day, so we put down roots for the night. Twenty minutes later we are joined by the Danes.
Flickr Albums: Community Camping | Meteora | Mount Olympus National Park
Instagram Links: Wandering Falcon | Projekt Weltreise
I truly enjoyed the story 🥳 thank you for sharing your experience, Dan and Rosana! Enjoy this perfect trip! 🥳
Thank you Alexandra, we are having a great time!