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Mysterious Meteora: A Photo Gallery

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Our drive to Meteora was eventful, to say the least. In the previous post on Meteora, it was mentioned that we were stopped and booked for speeding. In my defence, it was a new expressway that had practically no vehicles for kilometres at a stretch. Nevertheless, speeding is wrong and I should have known better; nevermind the reason.

We were clocking around 150km/h when the speed limit on the expressway was 120km/h, and I was caught by a mobile traffic police van. Sheepishly, I walked back to the van after stopping the car quite a distance away (while the mister continued sitting in the car, grinning and leaving me to handle the traffic police on my own ๐Ÿ˜ก ). I was surprised to see two other young females sitting in the van, probably from the other car that was stopped nearby; they were being booked too.

The fatherly male traffic police officer was stern but fair. Perhaps much more fair that I expected. He didn’t tell me how much the fine was for, except that it won’t be too much; I was on tenterhooks the whole time he took down really detailed information. He wanted my parents’ names as well, and wanted our accommodation details (I brought along my passport, International Driving Permit, local driving licence and wallet along when I alighted) so I walked back to our rental vehicle again, to retrieve the necessary documents.

By then, the mister was getting worried (served him right for abandoning me to face the music alone!). He got out of the car to ask me why it was taking so long. I briefly explained to him before briskly walking back to the waiting officer.

After what really felt like an eternity to me, the police officer explained to me that he was letting me off with a small fine of 35โ‚ฌ (or thereabout), 10% of the original fine because he didn’t think I was a habitual speeder. I heaved a sigh of relief. Honestly I was expecting a fine of above 100โ‚ฌ. He then handed me the speeding ticket and told me that we have to pay the fine at a post office, and not to him.

Having learnt a well-deserved lesson, we took our time to get to Meteora as I suppressed the strong urge to go beyond the speed limit. I’m not a speed demon per se, but I’m also certainly not a slow driver.

We were both relieved when we finally arrived at our guesthouse. It has been a long day.

Apart from the 6 monasteries in Meteora that are still occupied, we also visited other places in our slightly over 2 days there, including a visit to the viewpoint for a gorgeous sunset and a couple of hermitages. In particular, the Meteora Sunset Tour we signed up for was well-worth the time and money; we learnt so much from our guide.

  • Our room at Monastiri Guesthouse in Kalampaka, one of the two towns near to Meteora.
  • Booked a room with a porch that led directly to the swimming pool area.
  • The bathroom was simple and functional.
  • American breakfast was provided by the guesthouse, and was a sumptuous full spread to fuel up before a day of activity.
  • The frontal facade of Monastiri Guesthouse. Interesting construction material, made of stone I think, and likely from the area.
  • Not entirely certain if we were overlooking Kalampaka or Kastraki, but since we were at either St. Stephen’s or Holy Trinity, I’ll hazard a guess and say this is probably Kalampaka.
  • How many monasteries can you spot in this picture? If you look closely, one of the three monks living at Holy Trinity Monastery was captured in the picture as well.
  • What a beautiful spot to have a picnic!
  • Rousanou Monastery, perched atop a narrow rock.
  • One of the few wefies we took in Meteora. The large monastery in the background would be Grand Meteoron Monastery.
  • The highlight in this shot is the rock in the centre. Our guide pointed out that there was once a monastery carved into the rock but after years of disrepair and eventual decay, we can no longer make out the structure of the monastery, just cave holes.
  • Byzantine Church of the Assumption of Virgin Mary, erected above the ruins of another church, in the 11th century.
  • Several cross pattรฉe were sighted within the church, indicating that Knights Templar ever stepped foot into this ancient church.
  • The bell tower.
  • We would have completely missed this ancient church if we had not signed up for the sunset tour.
  • The Badova Hermit Caves are pretty well-known, mostly because they are still visible and well-preserved.
  • It takes a certain, almost maniacal, level of commitment and self-discipline to commit to a life of solitude in the name of religion. It happens in many religions and is still something I can’t quite fully comprehend. I have nothing but admiration for these individuals.
  • The ledges constructed out of wood helped the hermit monk get to a level low enough to retrieve food and supplies from volunteers who went to check on the monk periodically.
  • Impending sunset over the valley in Meteora. So blessed to have good weather on our first full day in Meteora because the second day was cloudy; we couldn’t see the sun setting.
  • According to the map provided by our guesthouse, there are two locations marked out as prime spots for sunset-viewing: one spot closer to Grand Meteoron Monastery and the other closer to St. Stephen’s Monastery. We were brought to the latter by our mini tour bus.
  • Very fiery and majestic sunset witnessed by a whole bunch of us at the viewpoint.
  • Once the sun set, it became dark fairly quickly. We stepped down the rocky viewpoint while we still had some light to illuminate our way.

Meteora exudes a mysterious aura; the religious fervour we felt throughout our few days in the region played no small part in this sentiment. Couple that with the wonderment of nature (of strong tectonic movements and weathering) resulting in a stunning, rugged scenery and it is crystal clear why this quietly imposing, looming rock formation is rapidly becoming a vastly popular tourist destination.

Tourists typically take a day tour from Athens to Meteora via a guided bus tour, just to have a sense of how the rock formation looked like. Far lesser choose to utilise public transport or self-drive although these two options offer more freedom to explore the area at a leisurely pace and enjoy the languid vibes of the neighbourhoods of Kalampaka or Kastraki. If you ask us, we would highly recommend spending at overnight in the area if you have the time to spare.

In Love with Mysterious Meteora

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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: 3โ‚ฌ 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: 3โ‚ฌ 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: 3โ‚ฌ 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. Iโ€™ve avoided taking pictures of the monasteriesโ€™ interior as far as I could, but I did allow myself one shot over here because it seemed to be โ€˜silentlyโ€™ 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: 3โ‚ฌ 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 didnโ€™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 weโ€™ve admired the view from the small terrace.

Fee: 3โ‚ฌ 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: 3โ‚ฌ 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

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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.

The navel.

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.

First wefie of the trip!

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. ๐Ÿ˜†

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.

The 178m x 26m Stadium of Delphi.

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. ๐Ÿ˜›

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?

Athenian Treasury

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!

This is Home, Truly

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And home is where the heart is.

Singapore has recently been plagued by weeks of unceasing wet weather. This, combined with Paris’ increasing lack of stamina and us letting the busyness of everyday life overwhelm us, meant that we have not been venturing out much with the girls. All it took was a little reminder (from a friend whose dog is losing the fight against the same cancer) that her life hangs by a thread to snap me back into reality. The very same afternoon, we were blessed with good weather. Without nary a hesitation, I brought Paris out round the neighbourhood to sniff the flowers.

Paris wasn’t interested in the flowers. ๐Ÿ˜† She preferred sniffing the grass, lamp-posts and watching children swim and play in the pool. I let her set the pace, and spent some minutes standing by her as she stood and watched all the activities. While I have intrinsic faith that she will not venture somewhere she isn’t allowed to if I unleash her, she was kept leashed for the benefit of our neighbours (a lot of whom have inexplicable fear of large dogs, even one as friendly-looking as Paris). The mister said this is exactly the reason why he likes to walk her late at night – he could unleash her while she walks around the estate sniffing at objects/structures that interests her. I, on the other hand, prefer not to give her walks close to her bedtime. This old girl needs her sleep.

The park connector was much better; less crowded so I could unleash her to let her walk at her own pace. She didn’t walk far at all, keeping within 50 metres of our estate while concentrating on sniffing every single tree she came across. As I watched her, I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of sadness. Age and cancer have taken such a toll on her health in the most obvious ways; other than the apparent weight loss, she has also lost her appetite for adventure, preferring to stick to the familiar.

Paris does not like to be photographed. Especially by me since she was my default subject when I was first introduced to DSLR almost a decade ago. I have to confess that I used to make her pose for a long time while I fiddled with the cameral controls, thus testing her patience so. Till today, she frequently refuses to smile (or stop smiling if she was) whenever she sees a camera pointed at her. On the two days I brought her out in the afternoon, she was clearly in a good mood, blessing me with some pictures of her smiling broadly. Dogs will be dogs – they just love the outdoors too much not to smile. ๐Ÿ™‚

And now, a parting shot of Paris taken at home, just to show that she is such a gorgeous golden retriever. She may not be born to champion parents unlike Belle, but Paris possesses a very sweet face. Don’t you agree?

We have another outing scheduled for the weekend. Hoping for good weather so that we don’t have to reschedule. If there is anything I learnt from other owners of dogs having the same cancer, it’s that this cancer hits hard with no symptoms and that we should cherish every extra day we get to spend with her.

My Inexplicably Strange Encounter in Fรกtima

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Our schedule started early in the day, as typical of most guided tours. It didn’t matter that I was sufficiently under the weather to have taken a slow day, or skipped some locations if we were vacationing on our own. A guided tour meant that we have to move with the group, no matter what.

We saw the more important places in Lisbon, ate the world-famous Portuguese egg tarts, but only went on our way towards the highlight of the day well after noon. Yes, we were going to Fรกtima, the town of the famed Marian apparition that appeared six times before three shepherd children back in 1917.

For the uninitiated, the Blessed Virgin Mary first appeared to three shepherd children Lucia (aged 10), Francisco (aged 8) and Jacinta (aged 7) as they were tending to their flock in a pasture not far away from Fรกtima, in May 1917. In subsequent months, the Lady appeared to the children five more times, and further entrusted them with three secrets, famously known as The Three Secrets of Fรกtima. The first two secrets were released in full in 1941. The third secret, though written in 1944, was only revealed in 2000 and is shrouded in mystery. Till today, many believe that the third secret has not been revealed in full, or is false.

The two younger children Francisco and Jacinta Marto, whom had several times predicted their deaths to their mother, died in 1919 and 1920 respectively, and were beatified on 13 May 2000, on the 83rd anniversary of the first Marian apparition they saw. Lรบcia Santos, the eldest of the three children, lived the longest till the age of 97, in Feb 2005. A year later, her remains were laid to rest in the Shrine of Fรกtima. And we happened to have visited the Sanctuary of Fรกtima several months after this.

Fรกtima is used to serving large numbers of pilgrims, an average of 4 million every year, and that includes their no-frills cafeteria too. We had a simple lunch after arriving and had an interesting, lengthy discussion with our fellow tour mates about Catholicism, Christianity and the different denominations.

Having visited in May 2006, we happened upon the sanctuary when it was commemorating its 90th anniversary (since the first Marian apparition was recorded). And the good thing about travelling with a tour? It was fairly easy getting a fellow tour mate to take pictures of us, for us. I looked so pale. ๐Ÿ˜ฅ

We cleansed ourselves at the Holy Water Font prior to entering the basilica, a little surprised at how cold the water was.

It took us quite a while to finally step foot in the Basilica and we were surprised by how cool it was inside, juxtaposed against the hot, humid weather we experienced at the plaza. And just as how quickly my cheeks sizzled to a bright red like tomatoes sitting on a barbecue grill when we were outside, my flushed face started cooling rapidly in the shade. It was almost reflective of my inner state of mind: in a turmoil versus a strange calm. At this point, it is probably important to mention that I had visited Fรกtima in a disturbed state of mind, having had a lot on my mind. And of course, I was also having a cold.

I took time for my eyes to adjust to the darkness (it was in fact much darker than what was shown in the photograph below). When I was ready, I genuflected at the end of the centre aisle before proceeding slowly towards the altar ahead, in awe of the calm and peace washing over me.

As I was approaching the altar, an elderly, stooping lady I assessed to be of Eastern European descent was headed towards me, in the opposite direction. Under normal circumstances, I would have moved to the right to allow her passage but I was arrested by the kindness I saw in her cloudy greyish-blue eyes. And understanding. She reminded me so much of my late grandmother (she was truly quite a figure to fathom with: very mean to her daughters-in-law but I was the apple of her eye) whom I missed so much.

Instead of walking on, I halted on the spot, with the mister standing right behind me. The elderly lady continued to approach, stopped in front of me, and then lifted her hand to caress my cheek adoringly. It took me completely by surprise and I couldn’t recover quickly enough to react to her motherly gesture. She gave me a smile, and then went on her way.

When we could finally find our voice again, the mister commented, ‘Maybe she has never seen an Asian before?’

I shook my head. That wouldn’t explain the elderly lady’s queer behaviour. Furthermore, this is Fรกtima, a world renown Catholic pilgrimage site where there are no lack of Asian faces amongst pilgrims hailing from all around the world. I won’t go as far to say that it was a spiritual encounter, and it wasn’t so amazing as to cure my cold instantaneously… but it was definitely strange. Very few cultures in the world actually sanction touching a stranger’s face, or am I wrong?

This encounter weighed heavily on my heart long after we left Fรกtima. Some years later, I signed up for RCIA to complete my spiritual journey. I once shared with the Brother in charge of our RCIA journey about my unique experience in Fรกtima and after some contemplation, he gave me a new perspective that was food for thought. He said, perhaps the elderly lady was an angel sent by my grandmother to comfort me in my time of need.

Whatever it was, this inexplicably strange encounter played a key role in my decision to return to the Church. And because of this, Fรกtima shall forever be a very special place for me, spiritually.

TRIVIA:
What exactly are The Three Secrets of Fรกtima that the three Portuguese children were entrusted with in 1917?

According to the Vatican’s website, the first secret directly referenced to the frightening vision of hell where ‘Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire which seemed to be under the earth. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear…’.

In direct response to the fear incited by the first secret, devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary was necessary to save the souls of poor sinners otherwise destined for hell. There were also references to the end of WWI and how a worse war would occur (WWII) during the reign of Pope Pius XI should men continue not doing God’s Will and Russian not convert. That was the second secret.

The third secret was recorded, sealed and revealed amidst controversy. Sister Lucia, the last of the three children still alive, fell seriously ill in 1943. It was suggested that she recorded down the third secret (which she never revealed) in the event of her death but she was two-minded about it since she was told not to reveal the secret at the time it she received it. In Jan 1944, Sister Lucia was ordered to record it down and kept safe in a sealed envelope, and eventually sent to Rome for safekeeping in 1957. It was eventually revealed and read in Rome in Jun 2000, which sparked another heated argument (as to why it was revealed in Rome and not Fรกtima, where the event occurred). Although different interpretations of the secret exist, it summarily revealed the vision of the Pope, together with his priests and laypersons being attacked by soldiers. Some say it alluded to the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul I in 1981. Some fanatics claimed that the there was a fourth secret in the sealed envelope involving information on the end of the world that was withheld by the Vatican.

Of The Keukenhof & Canals

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Contrary to popular belief, not all women are partial to flowers. I am one such exception. Apart from two white flowers โ€“ tiger lilies and white cymbidiums โ€“ no other flower, however resplendently packaged in a bouquet, catches my eyes. We were therefore expectedly not looking forward to visit The Keukenhof despite much hype amongst our group mates. Little did we expect ourselves to be in for a pleasant surprise.

The Keukenhof, the worldโ€™s largest flower garden located near Lisse in Netherlands, opens annually between the last week of March and mid-May. During its opening, stunning displays of blooming tulips and horticultural mastery greets hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world. It is sometimes also aptly called the Garden of Europe.

We started the day insanely early โ€“ at least it was so for me โ€“ hoping to be one of the earliest groups to reach The Keukenhof. Granted, we were one of the earliest, but there were already another 10 or so tour groups ahead of us, judging from the number of coaches at the parking bays. I wondered how early they woke up and set off to reach this early? Encouraged instead of being disheartened, we joined the rather long queue with much gutso.

Pink Tulips
Some lovely tulips in hues of bright pink.

I was barely awake when we finally got through the barricades and stepped foot onto the legendary garden park. Borrowing lyrics from one of Bryan Adamโ€™s songs โ€“ I thought Iโ€™d died and gone to Heaven, for Keukenhof is what I would envisage Heaven to be, blasphemous as it may sound. We were blessed in many ways: the weather was rather good, with only slight manageable drizzles, if anything; the park was still not overwhelmed with crowds early in the morning; we were enchanted by the carefully preened florae; and oh, how could I forget the captivating tulip bulbs in every imaginable hue in the vast fields adjacent to the park.

Us with Tulip Fields
Tulip Fields
Such a beautiful sight to behold!

Iโ€™m a convert, but only for tulip bulb fields. :P

The park is huge by any standard, and as we were slowly making our way back to the entrance cum exit of the park, our attention was captured by an enthralling act of a peacock courting a peahen. And a rather rare species of a white peacock, to boot!

The White Peacock
Peacock snubbed by peahen.

Alas, the peacockโ€™s advances was snubbed by the arrogant peahen, which chose to ignore him throughout the courtship ritual that dated back to ancient times. Alright, I have to admit we donโ€™t know much about peacocks and the likes. Perhaps the pair adjourned somewhere else to continue their rendezvous, away from prying eyes. We left not knowing what happened next.

If you intend to make a trip to The Keukenhof, time it earlier rather than later during the season. We were there in mid-April and it was perfetto: the flowers, while not in their full glory, were showing the first signs of blooming. Do take into account the general climate in Europe when deciding. For example, if it was a warm winter, then spring would likely be warmer too, resulting in the blooming occurring earlier than usual.

Following lunch in Amsterdam, we proceeded for our canal cruise. Barring my need to visit the restroom (but refusing to use the one on the boat!) and feeling rather motion-sick after a full lunch, it was an enjoyable and leisurely tour of Amsterdam. We sighted some really delightful self-contained houseboats along the way, and wondered what it would be like to live in one.

Amsterdam Drawbridge
A typical drawbridge found in Amsterdam.

Several drawbridges were also sighted during our canal tour. A pity there werenโ€™t many tall vessels requiring the bridges to be drawn, for designing bridges was decidedly one of my favourite modules in college.

The Netherlands, also mistakenly referred to but widely accepted as Holland, is the worldโ€™s first producer and exporter of tulips although they were first imported from the Ottoman Empire (now known as Republic of Turkey). Amsterdam is the capital of the country, and the large number of canals found in the capital has led it to be called โ€˜Venice of the Northโ€™. With almost 25% of their land lying below sea level, itโ€™s little wonder that the Dutch are famous for their bridge-building and technical know-how in water management. They have honed these skills to perfection for survival, more than anything else.

Soft drugs like cannabis are legal in The Netherlands, and only licensed โ€œcoffee shopsโ€ are allowed to sell these drugs. If you are a Singaporean and is thinking of trying out these drugs while visiting The Netherlands (or anywhere in the world, for that matter), I beg you to think twice. Singapore takes an unwavering firm stance where drugs are concerned โ€“ be it for trafficking or for personal consumption. But of course, the penalty for the former is much more severe than the latter. Even cannabis tested in a random urine test could get you imprisoned, and it is common knowledge that it takes a while for drugs to be totally cleared from your system.

The infamous Amsterdam Red Light District has also somewhat become a major tourist attraction. One contributing factor, I conclude, is its close proximity to Amsterdamโ€™s Centraal Station (10 minutes walk, and no spelling error there). The later it is, the busier the area gets. If you so wish to see the prostitutes plying their trade in the famous little windows, otherwise known as โ€˜window-shoppingโ€™, you know to be later rather than earlier. However, we were warned that we should not attempt to reach for our cameras for it is forbidden to take photos in the district. Apparently anyone spotted to be doing so by any of the girlsโ€™ bouncers would be escorted out of the area, with the expensive toy thrown into the canal. Ouch!

After a unanimous vote of confidence from the whole group, we proceeded to Volendam for our dinner of Fish & Chips. I have little recollection of the quaint little town as it was raining so heavily we thought a flood was impending. I was also nursing an extremely bad cold. Bad weather with a cold combined: a sure-proof formula to bring on my surliness. I was the most disagreeable person to walk the surface of earth, if you had asked the mister that evening.

Needless to say, I was dreadfully grateful to have finally reached our hotel for the night. We were flying off to London the next day, but I left all the outstanding packing in the trusty hands of the mister since I was in no state to be of any help.

Of First Snow

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The first fall of snow is not only an event,

it is a magical event.

You go to bed in one kind of a world

and wake up in another quite different,

and if this is not enchantment

then where is it to be found?

–  J. B. Priestley

Without a doubt, winter is irrevocably and undeniably my favourite season, for a myriad of reasons: Christmas would be around the corner (for the Northern Hemisphere, that is), I almost always prefer cold to warm weather and, who doesnโ€™t have romantic notions of a White Christmas, cuddling with your loved one by the fire with the aroma of roasting chestnuts permeating the whole house? Why, even Winter is my best-loved concerto from Vivaldiโ€™s Four Seasons. ‘Nuff said.

Oh wait, there is but this one little problem – that we hail from a region that doesnโ€™t get to experience winters (we should be very worried if we do). The closest we have are the northeast monsoon rains from December to March that help bring down the ambient temperature by some: from an average of 32ยฐC to 27ยฐC. Snow, the all-essential element for a white Christmas, is however conspicuously absent.

There is a famous saying: โ€If the mountain wonโ€™t come to Muhammad, Muhammad must go to the mountainโ€. Since we canโ€™t have things our way, we must then bow down to the inevitable. Well yes, we have since long resigned to our fate; while we don’t get winters here, our beloved country has provided us with much in return. For the winter experience, we always have the option of travelling.

Honeymoon First Snow
Encounter of ‘first snow’ when we were at Sincheon Walking Street.

There is snow, and then there is first snow. Apparently, the Koreans decided that first snow (์ฒซ๋ˆˆ) should be set apart from other snows, and the logic of this completely eludes me. If youโ€™d ever watched Winter Sonata (๊ฒจ์šธ ์—ฐ๊ฐ€), you would have noticed that the motif of first snow was repeatedly emphasised in the said Korean drama series, especially whenever the two lovers met. It must be a certain significance known only to the Koreans.

Determined to uncover the basis of the Koreansโ€™ obsession over first snow, I delved deeper with the aid of the internet. Nothing useful showed up, possibly because I typed and searched in English โ€“ I have a strong hunch the concept must be best explained in Hangul (ํ•œ๊ธ€), which unfortunately, is a language I was not familiar with at the time of writing this post. From what little information unearthed, I deduced that first snow could refer to first love, meeting of lovers or that witnessing first snow with your beloved means that this will be an everlasting relationship.

Whichever the case, fact is everyone gets excited over the first snowfall of the winter. Years back during our mini honeymoon to Korea, we witnessed Seoulโ€™s first fall of snow while shopping along Sincheon Walking Street (์‹ ์ดŒ๋™). Understandably, we tourists hailing from the Tropics were squealing away in delight, but I was surprised to find the locals equally excited: some started dialling and speaking on their mobile phones informing their loved ones about it while others got busy taking snapshots.

Considering the romantic connotation of first snow, I take witnessing it on our mini honeymoon as a good augury for our marriage.

TRIVIA:
South Korea (officially known as Republic of Korea) has a temperate climate with 4 distinct seasons. Their winters are notoriously long, cold and dry while their summers are short, hot and humid. They are however, less vulnerable to typhoons than Japan, Taiwan or the eastern coast of China. The country is warmest in July and coolest in January. On balance, South Korea sees 116 days annually with measurable frost, and on average, one can see frost throughout the whole of every January.