Near the end of our time in Northern Greece, we arrived in Kastraki, the town at the foot of the world famous monasteries of Meteora. I was so excited to be there, to be able to visit this amazing landscape. We checked into a guesthouse nearby - run by a 60 year old Greek woman who had spent many years living in Australia - with fabulous views. Again, we were virtually the only travellers in town, which was kind of pleasant. We had the town to ourselves. While we were in Kastraki, unfortunately the weather was quite wet, forcing us to relax in the hotel for a couple of hours before walking down to the town for a wonder. We stopped at a small restaurant and had our lunch, the owner of which showed his upset face for no reason. May be he had an argument with his wife before we showed up. Anyway, we ordered a few dishes, tried to get a smile out of him and enjoyed his food despite it all.
Back at the hotel we started hearing music and the owner told us that the next day would be a special anniversay of a famous Greek victory over the Germans. We drove up there to have a look at the preparations, the music and the kids dancing. At the window of the town ouzerie, we saw the owner singing and dancing to Greek music as he served a single customer dinner. We immediately decided that this was the place for us. He was totally pissed and hilarious but he had a very nice voice and also he cooked brilliantly. We ordered some grilled sausages, Greek salad of course and Ouzo. He served the longest sausage I've ever had in my entire life, too big for the dish and it tasted amazing.
We started our monastery visiting the next day a bit earlier than usual as we wanted to visit as many as possible. Unfortunately some are closed on certain days. Anyway, we visited as many as we could and they were all amazing. I wondered at how the people could build so many monasteries that looked like they were hanging on the side of the rocky mountains. The walking paths up to them were beautiful both because of the view and the workmanship. After one visit, while I was waiting for my friends to come down, I talked to the ticket seller and he was so funny. He asked me where I was from and I responded. He tried to express that he knew Vietnam by acting out the shooting of a gun and said America and something else in Greek but I think he wanted to mention the Vietnam War. I'm so happy to know that at least someone in such a remote place knows about my country and he must know that we won the war. Thanks for that mate, I very much appreciated that. We had a brilliant day and yes, I can't believe I've been there.
During my second trip to Greece we headed to the northern part of Greece, famous for its beautiful mountains and monasteries. I had heard a little about those amazing monasteries located on the side or top of the rocky hills and I couldn't wait to be there and enjoy the great views and the ambience. But before reaching there, we passed quite a few amazing places in the Zagorahoria area north of Ioannina.
We visited Vradeto to walk up the renowned Vikos Gorge to view the beautiful scenery. We arrived a bit late in the tiny town after a long drive through the region. We parked our car at a small hotel and tried to work out when was the best time to do the hiking. We met the restaurant owner inside the place and a few of his regular customers eating and drinking wine. After a long chat, we realized that people only spent their summer time in the town to serve tourists and now being Autumn, there are only a few people staying in to take care of their houses. These regular customers were helping their relatives to build a house nearby. One of the young guy came over to our table and talk to us. He spoke very good English and we had a nice conversation. He explained a bit about the culture of the local area, the food and travel around this area. We decided to stay overnight and do the hiking the next morning. Unfortunately, there was no heater during the night (the temperature was only 3 to 5 degrees). We were the only people in the restaurant and the owner gave us extra blankets and it wasn't too bad. I went down stairs in the morning to ask for hot water to clean my face and the owner was already in the kitchen preparing our breakfast. He's a really funny man and a really good cook and we enjoyed his food very much.
It took us 45 minutes to walk up to the Vikos Gorge, truly beautiful even along the walk. There are quite a few different animals accompanied by their keepers walking up the mountain with us as well, cows with bells, deers, dogs... Very nice and peaceful atmosphere. We stood up there for a while enjoying the cool fresh air, the view and took some photos. Absolutely love this place heaps!!!! We walked back to the restaurant and headed further north to Kastoria, on the edge of western Macedonia. After checking into a B&B, we drove outside of this pretty town on Lake Orestiada. We wanted to visit the Prespe Lakes region, which sits right on the border of Greece, Macedonia and Albania. We reached a small village where we saw a man selling different pickles in jars and they tasted so nice. We walked toward the end and we found a restaurant for our lunch. We had to admit that we had the best meal for a long long time. Thank god we found this town for our great experience with totally traditional great northern Greek dishes.
