Meteora and Athens, Greece

As the four day Classical Greece tour continued, we followed on from the amazing Delphi with a lengthy drive further north into central Greece and the area called Meteora, an astonishing region of smooth pinnacles of prehistoric rock with thousand year old monasteries built on top. The pinnacles were created millions of years ago when the valley was a lake and sedimentary rocks were formed underwater. The monasteries were built by monks that took more than 300 years to build, and the ingenuity to construct them at such impossible locations defied the imagination. I could only wonder about the resolve of a builder who would never see the completion of what he was building, neither would his children or grandchildren. Following generations would have to take on the same blind ambition. The landscape of Meteora was alien, and the devotion of these people to achieve their ultimate tribute to God was admirable.

Meteora, with one of six monasteries perching precariously on top.

The amazing rock formations of Meteora.

On the final day of our Classical tour, we were taken to an unusual restaurant for lunch. You walk through the main dining room, straight into the kitchen and get handed a plate. In the centre of the kitchen is a large stove top, as big as a kitchen bench, and on top are several large open-top cooking vessels. There are beef meatballs in tomato sauce, and a chicken stew, and pork swimming in olive oil, and pots of vegetables such as peas, beans and potatoes – all hot and simmering from the oil-fired hot plates. Standing over these pots is the cook, boss of the kitchen and matriarch of this family business. Everyone calls her “Mama” and she is in her 70s. She asks you what you’d like, you point, she serves, you take your plate into the restaurant, and indulge in the most delicious home-cooked meal you’ve had in ages. It was so good that Anne took advantage of a quiet moment when the kitchen was empty to go in and complement Mama on the meal. I could see them talking from our table, and even though Anne couldn’t speak Greek and Mama couldn’t speak English, the conversation went on for minutes. It concluded with the universal gesture of friendship amongst all peoples – a hug.

Mama at work in her kitchen.

 We returned to Athens for a couple of nights to finish our two weeks in Greece. By finally ascending the hill called The Acropolis and walk around the Parthenon was another life-long goal ticked off the list. The Acropolis climb may not have been as tough as Delphi, but we did have to manoeuvre our way through crowds of people. There must be thousands of tourists on the Acropolis at any one time, each one paying 20 Euros for the privilege. That’s a lot of money to contribute to the restoration of this awesome archaeological site, and we saw evidence of restoration in many forms – new slabs of white marble, cranes to lift multi-tonne stones into place, and modern-day white marble expertly blended into two thousand year old marble. All of these ancient sites in Greece are UNESCO Heritage Listed, and the reasoning behind this makes sense to us now, having seeing them for real  – “the outstanding universal value of a cultural or natural property which deserves protection for the benefit of all humanity … have an impact on the progress of civilisation”.

The Parthenon,sitting atop The Acropolis.

 As we prepared to leave Greece after two weeks, we had fallen in love with everything that makes this country so very Greek. The culture is unique and yet very European – friendly, multicultural, delicious food and wine, compassionate and patriotic, but at the same time stubbornly annoying with smoking, graffiti, litter and chaotic traffic. There may be dissent in the local population with austerity measures imposed by the government and the need to be propped up by neighbouring European countries, but we did not get any sense of this when talking to the locals. They just get on with enjoying life and being Greek.

Site of the 1896 and 2004 Olympic Games, in Athens.