Our stay in Greece has been a pure pleasure!
A country we both didn’t know a lot about. The only things we did know were that Greece was the founder of Democracy, has heaps of awesome monuments and that the Greek islands are being run over by Germans, English and Russians during summer…
Now since we are travelling by van we will be focusing on the mainland of Greece of course.
VIKOS
The gorge of Vikos and its surrounding villages and hills really blew my mind. Such a gorgeous site, I wanted to buy land straight away, and I'm the ocean kind of guy! Well, as it turned out our budget is kind of limited…but definitely one of the most beautiful places we have been to. The whole place is so authentic. You know you are in Greece, but the wild side of Greece. Vikos gorge is th deepest gorge, according to the Guiness Book of Records!
AOOS SPRINGS LAKE
On our way to the monasteries of Meteora we had a sleepover high up in the mountains of Metsovo. Pure nature, wide velds, a big lake and the first signs of autumn… truly wonderful. If you love wild nature and no people this is for you and should be on every Greece itinerary. It was definitely the coldest night so far, winter is slowly on its way.
If not in Vikos we said, then lets build a house here instead...Sara already drew a picture, and it looks like this: Us building a tiny wooden house on the spot and lighting our new fireplace with a cup of tea in our hands. Our kids are playing outside in the woods without the fear of getting run over by cars, no fences anywhere...Beautiful, isn't it? ;) Well, what we did, we lit a fire out in the cold somewhere in the plains. And we absolutely loved it!
METEORA
Th next day the road took us to the majestic monasteries of Meteora.
As soon as we got closer to the enormous rocks we had to stop and gaze at these natural wonders. They are truly amazing.
Although Tourism has also hit this place, it is an absolute must see within Greece. There used to be 24, today there are 6 functioning monasteries at Meteora comprising 15 monks and 41 nuns. The rocks were supposedly formed by the withdrawing of sea water, permanent earth movements, wind, waves and extreme temperatures.
In our opinion you don't have to go and see all of the monasteries, but please do yourself a favor and visit at least one! It really is worth the cost, which is about €3 per person.
We saw all of the monasteries from the outside and visited only the Varlaam monastery founded in 1517. Here you can still see a well preserved net that was used to ascent and descend from the rocks! What is even more astounding is the ladders they used to climb up. Imagine standing on a 40m tall wooden ladder that someone else built and you are half way up. I bet you'll be becoming the most religious guy that ever lived!
We will keep you guys updated how Greece will spoil us the next couple of days!
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