Day 4, Meteora

We left Divani hotel in the morning on Andy's bus to tour monasteries in Meteora.
This is Divani hotel's swimming pool in the morning.

The monastery (with red roof) on the left rock is the Big Meteora.
The monastery (with red roof) on the right rock is Varlaam.
We visited Varlaam, not Big Meteora, because Big Meteora requires too many steps to get to.

Entrance ticket to Varlaam.
(It's interesting to match Greek alphabets to English in the spelling of "Varlaam")

Up to Varlaam monastery.

Women must wear skirt. If you don't, these skirts are on loan at the entrance.

Waiting for our turn to see the church in Varlaam.

Bell tower in Varlaam. The ropes are used to lower basket to bring supplies up.

Varlaam

On our way from Varlaam to St. Stephens monastery, our bus made a scenic stop
to let us view the Holy Trinity, the monastery with red roof on the rock.
007 movie "For your eyes Only" shot locations here, in spite of objections from resident monks.

St. Stephens, run by nuns

St. Stephens ticket booth, manned by a nun.

St. Stephens' inner court yard

St. Stephens, very modern compared to Varlaam.

St. Stephens' garden

From St. Stephens one can see our hotel, the Divani Hotel Kalambaka.
It is the long rectangular building with red roof at the center of this picture.

Back in Kalambaka, we all went to Restaurant Meteora to buy lunch on our own.
We went to the kitchen to see what was cooking, pointed to what we want,
and got the food ladled onto our plates.

Restaurant Meteora's pleasant outdoor seating area.
After lunch we went to visit an icon painting shop,
then back to the hotel to take a shower and chill out till dinner time.

We went to Taverna Panellinion for dinner. These were our appetizers.
(Fried Zucchini, Fried Calamari, Grilled Octopus, Tomato and Cucumber Salad)
This restaurant is recommended by Lonely Planet Greece, and also by our hotel clerk.

Main dish, Greek meat ball and lamb chop - we were too full to finish them all.

Mix fruit plate for dessert - Yummy. It was 2 Euro per order. Don't know if
2 Euro bought these much fruit, or the owner just gave us a lot more, because by this time
he was aware that we had ordered many dishes and always shared every dish.

On the way back to Divani hotel, we saw a dancing competition at one of the village squares.

Children dancing in traditional Greek custom.

Vincent got permission to take pictures of these two beautiful girls.

Man selling grilled corn by the side walk.