Meteora Monasteries and Thermopylae

Hello Everyone!

Today was the second day of our Greek Odyssey tour and our fifth day in Greece. This morning we woke up in our hotel room and went down for breakfast before hopping on the bus to travel to our first destination of the day. We didn't have to go too far to reach the Meteora Monasteries as they were just up the cliffs from the town we were staying in. On our way up to the monastery we were visting we had a picture stop where you could see a few of the monasteries sitting on top of the cliffs. The reason for the monasteries being on top of these cliffs was when they were first built they were made as isolated and inaccessible as possible at the time so that the monks could escape from the Turkish occupation. The only way to access the monasteries at the time were by ropes and nets to hoist people and goods up. When we reached the monastery we were visiting we were greeted by the tour guide who would be showing us around and telling us about the monastery. Once inside the main public area of the monastery our small group of six had quite the surprise by seeing one of the doors to the private quarters open and being greeted by one of the few monks that occupied the monastery. He then made his exit just as quickly as he'd appeared back through the door before a much larger group of tourists showed up. We then followed our tour guide through the rest of the public areas of the monastery as she told us about the paintings on each wall and also the significance of each room. When we were done exploring the monastery we made our way back down the steps and got on the bus to go visit one of the two covenants of Meteora. When we stopped for a photo stop on the way to the covenant we were told that their are five monasteries for monks and two covenants for nuns on the cliffs of Meteora. Before the 1960's all of them were monasteries until two of them became covenants because their were no more monks at two of the monasteries. When we reached the covenant we learned that unlike the monasteries, which had hired employees taking care of the buildings and grounds because their are too few monks to take care of the monasteries themselves, the nun's covenants are completely self run by the nuns. After having a thorough tour of the covenant we said thank you and goodbye to our guide and continued on our way.


THIS IS SPARTA!!!!!!! Sorry, I couldn't help it. Our next stop down the road was Thermopylae. Located there was a statue and monument of Leonidas, King of the Spartans. The Battle of Thermopylae was where King Leonidas and his 300 Spartans battled against the invasion of King Xerxes and the Persian Empire. One of the main reasons for the choice of this spot for the battle was because of the narrow pass located there known as the "Hot Gates." This pass at the time only allowed eight men shoulder to shoulder armed with shields to pass through at a time meaning that the Persians numbers which numbered over a million meant nothing. The Spartans lined up shoulder to shoulder, shield to shield blockading the opening creating a bottle neck effect for the Persian army. The battle lasted for three days and the Spartans slaughtered the Persians for the first two.  In the end, on the third day, a traitorous Greek named Ephialtes showed the Persian army a mountain path around the Hot Gates that flanked the pass resulting in defeat for the Spartans. To this day because of his traitorous ways the word "Ephialtes" became the Greek word for "nightmare." It was inspiring to stand on the ground where this famous battle happened and where Greece first really showed that they wouldn't be pushed around.

When we left Thermopylae we continued to a small seaside town where we went for a swim and then had lunch by the beach. After lunch it was about a two hour bus ride back to Athens. When we got back to Athens we said our goodbyes and headed back to our hostel. Once we checked into our hostel we went for supper and then came back to our hostel for the rest of the day. Tomorrow we have just over half a day in Athens before we catch our flight to Croatia. We had an absolutely amazing time in Greece and it was one of our best adventures yet. Next time I write I'll be in another country.

Till then,
Rocky