Tuesday morning we left bright and early and we’re on the train by 8 am. We settled into the Kosta Famissa, walked about the small town of Kalambaka (Kalabaka?) and enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Meteora restaurant. They make their food in big pots so a lot of it is slow cooked. Our guide for the monasteries picked us up and we drove up the rocks, getting out to enjoy views, hike a bit and visit St Stephen’s monastery which is inhabited by 33 nuns. The other 8 operating monasteries are homes for 2 to 4 monks. The restaurant we stopped at was famous for its pies so I had the spinach and cheese. YUM! It was raining so we weren’t too hopeful for a sunset but drove to the view point anyway. Luckily for us the sun came out just in time! Clouds always make a sunset more interesting.

Wednesday we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before getting picked up for the hike we’d booked. We weren’t sure what to expect. It was rated “easy”, 7 km with only a 200 m climb. . BUT it was expected to take 4 or 5 hours. We prepared for difficult. Brought lots of water just in case.
In the end I’d rate it moderate. There was lots of up and up and down, some slippery patches and certainly more than a 200 m total climb. We were glad we brought poles. It was a really good hike and just what we wanted. Lots of variety and I got to see several tortoises. Back at the hotel we showered and relaxed for an hour or so before meeting the group for dinner

2 Sep 2022

Thursday. We arrived in Delphi by bus and checked into the Acropole hotel. Delphi is basically 3 main streets that run parallel and the 3 streets are connected by stairs. Since it’s so small you can walk anywhere so we walked to the ruins and museum and archaeological site. There we met our guide, Penny, who spent the next hour showing us the site and explaining the history. She was very entertaining and made the history come alive. Afterwards we wandered around on our own investigating.

The ruins are the draw but the town of Delphi is lovely too!

Friday. After leaving Delphi we stopped to see the temple of Athena and then on to the Korinthian canal before reaching our destination of Nafplio, the capital of the region. It’s still ridiculously hot!

In Nafplio we joined the others for lunch then headed for the beach. After a swim and drying off we walked up to the castle for some exploration and gorgeous views. Dinner was wine we found at the grocery store and potato chips on our balcony. Perfect
The beach in Napflio isn’t impressive. It’s small, with big stones so not comfortable to sit around on. Getting in and out isn’t easy either. If I went again I’d go for a swim at the base of the castle, near the harbour. It looks like it was once a pool, is blocked off from the waves and has ladders to get in and out.

Saturday. We had great aspirations of climbing the 999 steps to the fortress but by the time we’d finished breakfast at 8.30 it was already stinking hot. So we opted to spend the day exploring every nook and cranny of the gorgeous little old town. I think we managed that. 18,000 steps later we were hot, tired and thoroughly done.

The market; where they sell wine in plastic jugs.

Sights around the town of Napflio. Such a pretty town!

Our bus left at 5.30 to take us to Pareus to catch the overnight ferry to Crete. On the way we stopped in Corinth to see the canal which is apparently the smallest in the world