mediterranean – Wayfaring: Still

In Love with Mysterious Meteora

September 21, 2019August 14, 2021 Genn1 Comment

I’m not able to pinpoint when my fascination with Meteora began, but it would be about right to say that I’ve been wanting to see this mysterious place for myself for the longest time. Especially after two ditched plans to come to Greece.

Meteora is located in central Greece and a good 400km drive from Athens, including a pit stop in Delphi. In total, it took us almost 9 hours to finally arrive in Meteora, after a tour of Delphi ruins, being led on a merry-go-round with the provided GPS wanting us to get on E65 but kept leading us to E75 (had to use Google Maps to get it right) and getting booked for speeding while trying to catch up with time lost over the GPS boo-boo. All in all, it was an immensely eventful first day for us. In a day, we’ve experienced both an accident and a speeding ticket in a rental car, something we’ve never ever been through in more than a decade of vacation-driving.

We did get to see some bits of the Meteora rock formation from our guesthouse when we arrived at dusk but couldn’t sight any of the six monasteries we were intending to visit. The suspense made the next morning even more exciting.

It’s tricky business trying to cover all 6 monasteries in Meteora because all of them have different days of rest (once a week) so unless you plan two days to explore the area or visit during the weekend. Check their website for the latest opening hours.

St. Stephen’s Monastery

We started with the nearest one to our hotel early next morning. One of the two nunneries out of the 6 monasteries still standing today (in the 16th century there were as many as 24 monasteries but many were abandoned in the 17th & 18th centuries). St. Stephen’s was our first stop and by far the easiest one to reach after parking our car. No stairs, no slopes. Just flat ground to reach it.

There are a total of 28 nuns living in the nunnery. Everyone in our guesthouse told us they were strict so the mister was reminded repeatedly to wear long pants or he would be denied entry. I’m not sure if the black habit the nuns wore has any impact on my impression of them but I found them very stern when I was admiring the frescoes in the church. Two of them were watching the visitors closely to ensure nobody attempted to take any pictures or videos within the church interior. I have to admit that I was terrified of them.

The feminine touch was to be found everywhere within St. Stephens. The grounds was well-kept and even the frescoes were extremely well-maintained compared to the other monasteries. I’m not certain why this is so, but a guess would be that since this particular monastery was preserved by the town after it was abandoned until the nuns took over the place in 1962, the town had the means and made sure everything was well-preserved.

The interior of the church is beautiful but don’t take my word for it. Have a look yourself.

Fee: 3€ per person
Closed on: Mondays & 3.30-5.30pm daily

Holy Trinity Monastery

*Look closely and you can see how to path zigzagged down from the*
*road near the top.*

Otherwise dubbed the ‘James Bond Monastery’ because a scene in ‘For Your Eyes Only’ was shot there, Holy Trinity Monastery was much harder to reach than St. Stephen’s. After parking our car along the road side we were greeted with several stretches of steep slopes leading us down to the steps that were carved into the rock that Holy Trinity sat on. A total of 200+ steps to reach the church.

Amidst the huffs and puffs, we arrived at the church grounds. And I was requested to put on a skirt (as with every other female not in a long skirt or dress entering the monastery) they provided at the entrance even though I was very modestly dressed in a blouse and pants. I decided to use my shawl as a wraparound skirt instead.

It is a much smaller church, and we learnt later that only 2 monks lived in the monastery (I was fortunate to capture one of the 2 monks living there when I was taking some pictures). The monastery was undergoing some renovation works; we saw several workers on the church grounds.

I was particularly intrigued with the ancient pulley system they used to carry supplies up the monastery earlier in the days. Although it is now being replaced by a modern system, the whole set up was still very well-maintained. I wonder if it still works.

An interesting nugget of information we learnt from our Sunset Tour guide later in the day: the monastery did not know that their grounds was going to be featured in a movie; they were told that it was for a documentary so they were rather annoyed when they learnt the truth because it brought them unwanted attention.

I didn’t know which I hated more: the steps up the the church or the steep slopes back to the car.

Fee: 3€ per person
Closed on: Thursdays

Grand Meteoron Monastery

Since we managed to make good time on our first day we thought to cover Grand Meteoron Monastery as well. That was until we drove to the monastery and saw the steady line of visitors. It was clear we weren’t going to make good time AND be in time for our sunset tour in the evening, so we ditched our ambitious plan.

As the oldest and largest monastery out of the six, only 3 monks lived there. It’s amazing how they manage to keep the vast monastery grounds so pristine and undertake the administrative role of all the monasteries in Meteora at the same time.

For the massive space this monastery occupies, it exhibits an equally impressive number of artifact in the several museums for visitors to understand the heritage and tradition of the monks who lived there as far back as the 14th century. And despite starting our day early, we couldn’t beat the day-tour crowd who came in tour buses. It seemed that the tours like to begin with Grand Meteoron Monastery, possibly because of its location and perhaps level of importance as well.

Fee: 3€ per person
Closed on: Tuesdays

Varlaam Monastery

Situated between Grand Meteoron and Roussanou monasteries, Varlaam Monastery was a short drive away, and the 4th monastery we visited. Of all the monasteries, I found Varlaam Monastery to have the most picturesque courtyard, complete with a pavilion. Suffice it to say that we spent a lot more time outdoors than in the monastery itself.

Being the second largest monastery, 7 monks live there (as opposed to 3 at Grand Meteoron Monastery) and was first occupied in the early 14th century. It also has the most well-lit interior. I’ve avoided taking pictures of the monasteries’ interior as far as I could, but I did allow myself one shot over here because it seemed to be ‘silently’ permitted. A few visitors before me took out their picture-taking contraptions and the monk on duty looked on without saying a word or showing displeasure.

This one precious picture gives an idea of how a typical monastery in Meteora is furnished – rather bare and austere – with the exception of icons adorning the interior of the church, but large free-standing statues are rarely seen, if at all. This is in general rather typical of Eastern Orthodox Churches we visited in Greece.

Fee: 3€ per person
Closed on: Thursdays & Fridays

Rousanou Monastery

Apart from St. Stephen’s Monastery, Rousanou Monastery is the other of the 6 still-standing monasteries in Meteora to be occupied by nuns. In this case, 13 nuns. Structurally, the construction of Rousanou Monastery is an amazing feat, perched at the pinnacle of rock and occupied the whole plateau, blending perfectly into its natural surroundings.

It didn’t take long to arrive at Rousanou Monastery, given the close proximity of Grand Meteoron, Varlaam and Rousanou monasteries. Parking though, was a little challenging since we had to park along the road, together with other vehicles including several tour buses. What followed was a little trek up to the church, including slopes initially and stairs after.

There was a bottleneck at the stairs with visitors trying to ascend and descend on the narrow path simultaneously. Progress was excruciatingly slow. As we were slowly taking the stairs to the church at the top, we looked down on our left and saw the nuns’ living quarters. Neatly pruned rose bushes on the pristine lawn greeted us; the mister and I were not the only ones amazed by the carefully grown garden.

Rousanou Monastery is amongst the smallest monasteries; we took less than 10 minutes exploring the interior before we found ourselves at the terrace again, rubbing shoulders with too many other visitors. The severely lack of breathing space made us hasten our steps to leave once we’ve admired the view from the small terrace.

Fee: 3€ per person
Closed on: Wednesdays

St. Nicholas Anapafsas Monastery

A very small church with only one monk living there, St. Nicholas Anapafsas Monastery was the last of the 6 monasteries we wanted to visit. It was past noon, and the heat from the glaring sun was seriously making me sleepy.

The geological location of this monastery limited its capacity to expand in width; the only way was to build upwards. This resulted in a rather small and cramp monastery that’s a few storeys high.

I remember how I stood there, looking out at the view, marvelling and wondering how a delta, once submerged in water millions of years ago has now risen a few hundred metres above ground. These rock formation in Meteora that we see today were sediments stacked on the waterbed. In fact, Meteora’s strange geological phenomenon is not so different from Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, the place in China where the movie ‘Avatar’ was filmed.

Fee: 3€ per person
Closed on: Fridays

By the time we were done with visiting all 6 monasteries, we were both hot and bothered, and terribly thirsty. Again, just like the day before. It was almost 3pm in the afternoon and way past our lunch hour. For some reason, our meal times were strangely all messed up the entire time we were in Greece; we were eating at very odd hours, much later than we usually did. Was it really caused by the hot weather?

Delphi, the Centre of the World

September 6, 2019August 7, 2021 GennLeave a comment

As considered by ancient Greeks, that is.

According to ancient Greek mythology, Zeus released two eagles in opposite directions of east and west, and the place where they met again – Delphi – was denoted to be the centre of the known world, the place where heaven and earth met. Inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1987, Delphi was considered to be a sacred religious sanctuary dedicated to the Greek god Apollo, who spoke through his oracle there.

Most of the well-preserved archaeological ruins that we see today at Delphi dates back all the way to 6th century B.C. although Delphi was first developed in 8th century B.C. by priests from Crete, believed to be responsible for bringing the cult of Apollo to mainland. Delphi went on to become highly influential, whereby the oracle was frequently consulted on both private matters and affairs of the state, and that included prior to launching wars or founding new colonies. The oracle was in such high demand so much so that affluent individuals even resorted to paying large amounts in order to get ahead in line.

During the planning phase, I agonised over whether we should make Delphi (as opposed to another destination) as our first stop after landing. Given its importance in Greek history and the extent of the site, we estimated that it would take us several hours to cover whole place and it probably wasn’t the best idea to tire ourselves out on the first day of our vacation. Nonetheless we decided to push ahead.

And was immediately proven that it was a bad idea to drive out from Athens Airport to Delphi straight after a long 11.5-hr flight. In the process of trying to get used to driving on the right side of traffic and navigating Athens’ crazy morning traffic, I crashed the side mirror against a street lamp. This is the first time I’ve ever had an accident with a rental car. Thankfully only the cover of the mirror got knocked off, and could be attached back.

*Our reliable ride for the next few days.*

Delphi isn’t located that far away from Athens, and is the second most popular archaeological site in Greece, behind the Acropolis in Athens. Our drive took us a relatively short 2.5 hrs, but that was the least of our problem. We couldn’t find parking space anywhere near the entrance of the ruins and ended up parking in the town nearby, a long walk away.

We experienced the brutal heat of Greece’s summer first-hand the moment we got off the car. To be honest, we are not unfamiliar with summer conditions coming from a tropical country, but we seldom have a completely cloudless blue sky here in Singapore, a phenomenon we encountered almost daily in Greece. Heat aside, our pictures turned out really gorgeous because of the blue. Can’t have the cake and eat it too, I reckon.

One of the first monuments we saw was The Navel, an oval marble stone, denoting the point at which the two eagles which Zeus released crossed paths again. This point is also known as the centre of the world, or ‘navel of the Earth’. However what is set at the archaeological site is only a simplified duplicate; the original has been placed in the Museum of Delphi.

Next, we came to arguably the most important monument at the archaeological site – Temple of Apollo. To be exact, we first saw the group of towering Doric columns and took possibly close to a hundred pictures of the colonnades against the sun. Alright, that’s an exaggeration but suffice it to say that we did spend a lot of time admiring the limestone + porous stone constructed columns.

After passing the Temple of Apollo we began tackling the more tiring aspect of exploring the Delphi site – slopes. As age catch on, we truly understood first-hand how lack of sleep affects stamina. 😆

But the views were well worth it. From afar, it was easier to visualise how the Temple of Apollo used to look like before its decay. According to records, Pythia (the high priestess) the oracle sat within the temple, likely behind a curtain while the helper priests relayed questions from petitioners. What then followed is what I would call ‘a fuzzy mess’, subject to various questionable and sometimes, conflicting interpretations by the priests as Pythia entered a state of delirium and uttered incomprehensible words. Unreliable as it sounds, the Temple of Apollo enjoyed extremely high prestige between the 6th and 8th centuries B.C., often swaying both military and political decisions. Eventually the spread of Christianity in the region led to its decay, and it was permanently silenced in AD390 when the temple was destroyed.

Further upslope the ancient theatre constructed in 4th century B.C. came into sight. Just imagine what a spectacular sight greeted the audience as they sat on the stands and watched plays, poetry readings and music performances, with the entire sanctuary and valley as backdrop. In its entirety of 35 rows (27 rows in the lowers zone, 8 rows in the upper zone), the theatre could sit close to 5,000 spectators.

We continued climbing to the top of the hill to see the Stadium of Delphi. The crowd of visitors had thinned out visibly by then, with many choosing to retrace their steps down the hill instead of continuing on.

Occupying the highest spot of the archaeological site, the stadium was famous for its chariot races and could sit close to 6,500 spectators during the Pythian Games, held in honour of Apollo. The Pythian Games, at its height, was ranked second in importance, placed only behind the Olympic Games. The games were held once every four years, 2 years after the Olympic Games and included various athletic and artistic competitions. Both male and female competitors were allowed to compete in both types of events.

It was way past noon as we made our way down the archaeological site. We were surprised that most of the crowd had left in their tour buses, possibly for lunch. We welcomed the opportunity to take more wefies without photobombers. 😛

A lot has changed in terms of how we preserve archaeological monuments and sites over the years. Back in 2007 when the mister and I visited Ephesus in Turkey, visitors to the archaeological site were allowed to trample all over the site, including steps at the ancient theatre. Fast forward to 2109 when we were at Delphi: there were barricades all over, preventing anyone from entering the ancient theatre.

It’s a good change. However it also begs the question: were visitors not taking enough care with the trampling on ancient sites that necessitated the move?

Archaeological sites hold a certain fascination for many, myself included. Without notes and guides, many of these stones and broken remnants mean nothing to us laymen. I have great respect for everyone involved in archaeological work; it’s hard work and mostly thankless. Yet their work are so important in revealing the history and past activity of humankind, how we lived, how we thought and how we died.

After close to four hours at Delphi, it was time for us to proceed to our next destination, which was a rather long drive away. Way past our lunch hour, but we didn’t have appetite for food even after quite a bit of walking. I blamed it on the weather; at the point I only really wanted iced, cold coke to quench the insatiable thirst. Nevertheless, on our walk back to retrieve the car, we stopped by a restaurant to fuel up with some Mediterranean food.

And then it was back to the car for our onward drive to Meteora!

Turkish Delights: A Photo Gallery

November 21, 2007September 28, 2021 GennLeave a comment

This being a typical package tour, a lot of activities were packed into the few days we had in Turkey. Regrettably, some of these places weren’t properly document with our camera, considering how languid I was midway into the trip.

Some of the more interesting sights and scenes have been selected to be highlighted in this picture gallery, more as an attempt to remind ourselves of the happy memories we did possess of the trip rather than merely documenting for the sake of it.

At the start of our trip, as we were crossing Sea of Marmara to get from Istanbul to Bursa. Totally captivated by how the sun rays streamed through the dark clouds.
Seagulls in flight as we ferried across the sea. An opportuned moment captured by our camera.
In the cobbled streets of Bursa, we came by a scene where Turkish women were making local naan.
It was mesmerising watching the women work.
The hard work behind weaving carpets. It’s amazinghow these women can do such intricate designs without any reference.
Another essential process of carpet making, retrieving silk strands from silkworm cocoons.
Really reminds me of cotton balls.
How the cocoons look like when the silk strands have been removed.
Panoramic view of Istanbul close to dusk.
Entrance to Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, one of the oldest and largest covered markets in the world.
Over 4,000 shops within the Grand Bazaar, but nothing we could bring home without exerting too much effort.
Hagia Sophia with its four minarets spotted in the far distance as we cruised down Bosphorus River.
Bosphorus Bridge, the suspension bridge that extends between the Asia and Europe continents.
A closer view.
Along the banks of Bosphorus River, where locals fish and mingle.
Came by this interesting little shop selling local ltos of chocolate.

I’ll admit that Turkey was not my desired vacation destination, at least not during the time we travelled. I wanted to tour Greece but the mister found the package to be costly, hence the next best option.

Despite this, the rainy weather and my bout of food poisoning that cropped up during the trip, it still was an enjoyable trip. Eye-opening and educational, especially the visit to the carpet factory and the mosques. Till today (2021, the year I’m writing this post 😳 ), I lament the fact that we didn’t take a balloon tour at Cappadocia. Not that we could. In the mister’s words, ‘There’s no toilet on the air balloon’. True, that. Even if I my condition had improved by then, the jitters of being in the air would have given me a tummy upset again anyway. It was a decision for the best.

Of the numerous posts I’ve written on this travel blog, I’ll say researching and writing on Turkey in particular Istanbul has been an exceedingly enjoyable and fulfilling task, in no small part contributed by my captivation with the Roman Empire. This pleasant discovery has rekindled my resolve to complete the unfinished parts of this blog before our next possible trip.

Playground of the Rich & Famous

April 13, 2005July 29, 2021 GennLeave a comment

Our next destination brought us to the French Riviera (French: Côte d’Azur), the southeast Mediterranean coastline off France. Due to its hot summers and mild winters, the French Riviera started out as a playground and vacation spot for European aristocrats who would temporarily move southwards to eschew the cold, bitter winters in the north. Now, the region has become a fashionable tourist destination, especially for the rich and famous. It is said that many celebrities own houses in the region.

The first stop – Parfumerie Fragonard at Grasse. Fragonard started out as ‘a novel concept of selling perfumery products directly to tourists who were beginning to discover the French Riviera’s charms’ and has remained remarkably true to its initial business concept since almost 80 years ago.

We were walked around the historic perfume factory by an English-speaking guide. The complementary tour was brief but most informative – we learnt a fair bit about the perfume production process, the three notes and how eau de toilette differs from eau de parfume. Our tour ended at the store, and being typical tourists, we bought quite a few items after perusing the merchandise.

Nice Panorama — *What a lovely panoramic view of Nice!*

The drive along the narrow, curvy and hilly roads flanking the Mediterranean Sea continued till we reached a pseudo pit stop which gave us an awesome vantage view of Nice (pronounced as ‘niece‘, not nice). Reluctantly we returned to the coach when our tour leader reminded us that time was running out and that our driver would like to arrive at Nice before the evening rush hour drove drones of cars up the hilly roads. As it is, the roads are difficult enough to navigate without impatient drivers. Little wonder it is said that driving on the Riviera is reserved only for the very brave.

Our coach driver’s wish was granted – we arrived at Nice safe and sound well ahead of the evening rush hour. After checking into what we would deem to be the worst accommodation throughout the tour, we were back at the lobby in a jiffy. The room was dark, small and came complete with a musty smell; we couldn’t wait to get out. It was so bad we were most disinclined to return after dinner and a night stroll, but we didn’t relish wandering about the whole night and possibly getting rounded up by the authorities for suspicious behaviour. I stayed awake for most part of the night.

We had one full day dedicated to the French Riviera, and the places to cover included Monaco, Saint-Paul de Vence and Cannes (pronounced as ‘kan‘, not cans). For the first time in days, we saw the sun peeking out of the clouds, and rejoiced. We embraced the respite from the cool, rainy weather in Italy, however short it might be.

Monte Carlo, one of Monaco’s administrative areas, is synonymous with the Monte Carlo Casino and Circuit de Monaco (of the F1 Monaco Grand Prix). Apparently you could in fact drive most part of the Grand Prix Circuit if you choose to drive into Monaco, but do not attempt to race or you could run into some serious trouble with the police.

Casino Monte Carlo — *Casino de Monte-Carlo.*

Admittedly, we have very little interest in gambling and casinos, but were suitably impressed with the several Ferrari and Lamborghini sighted outside, and the little park situated across the road from the casino. Playground of the rich and famous indeed.

After a quick lunch, we headed for Saint-Paul de Vence, one of the oldest and best-preserved medieval towns in the French Riviera. This charming hilltop-fortified quaint little town somehow houses an astonishing number of art galleries. Even if you are not quite an art afficionado, it would be as pleasurable an afternoon sitting at a sidewalk cafe sipping coffee or tea.

The cobblestoned roads and streets at Saint-Paul de Vence are so narrow that no cars can pass so be prepared to do some walking, with good sensible walking shoes.

Last but not the least, we dropped by Cannes fully expecting to be blown away by the host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. Well, do not expect Cannes to be ‘dressed up to the nines’ as it appeared to be on live telecasts of the renowned film festival, for the Cannes we saw was anything but. In fact, I did a double take and looked to the mister for re-confirmation. Without the red carpet and the bling-blings (from the female guests to the festival) playing with the lights and our eyes, I must say that Cannes was rather… underwhelming.

In Cannes — *The power of Hallyu, all the way in Cannes.*

That said, all one need to do is to walk around and you would find that Cannes is more than able to hold its own without the festival for city is also about luxury boutiques, restaurants, hotels and more.

I really liked the French Riviera, in part because it reminded me much of Singapore’s balmy weather, without the unbearably high humidity. The best of both worlds, so to speak.