Kalabaka, Greece

Today we left Athens for an overnight tour to the Meteora monasteries, a few kilometres from the town of Kalabaka. The impressive rocks of Meteora rise from the plains of Thessaly and are the location of the hilltop monasteries I have been wanting to visit for some time. Our plan in 2018 was to drive to the Meteora but Brad got a pretty bad case of vertigo and it wasn’t safe for him to drive so we had to give it a miss.

While it wasn’t on our original agenda to return to Athens, upon realising we were that close being in Croatia, I just had to add it to our travel itinerary this year. Only difference was that we decided to book a two day tour and leave the driving to someone else. A lot less street and more enjoyable for both of us.

While I haven’t really enjoyed being back on Athens it has all been worth it as the Meteora and it’s famous monasteries have been amazing. After a five hour bus ride from Athens to Kalabaka, a town at the base of the Meteora, we had some free time to settle into our accommodation before being picked up for our sunset tour. What I did not expect was to see the monolithic rocks towering over the town.

Kalabaka dates back to the 10th century and was an Ancient Greek settlement originally called Stagoi. With a battered history it was eventually named Kalabaka six or seven centuries ago. It is of Turkish origin and means "powerful fortress". It is a small town with a lot of history and it was nice being back in a less touristy location. We had a quick walk through town before having some lunch before we started our sunset tour.Read more