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Friday, June 21, 2013

What is Meteora?

Meteora in northern Greece is a land of escape. The orthodox priests stole away to its strange natural rock towers, fleeing the Ottomans and building strange monasteries in the process that look every bit an affront to gravity. There, they were safe.

The towers are still used today. We visited this strange place, weaving up from Athens in a miniature Citroen, stopping to smell the sweet olive air along the way. Escaping.

I hope you enjoy these pictures of odd Meteora as much as I enjoyed taking them.

As the sun began to drop in the sky, we took some old country roads back from Meteora to Kalabaka for dinner. On our way we encountered a street completely filled with goats. It was magical. They all shouted and clonked and stopped to eat trees. Then a small man on a motorbike came and yelled at them and they all ran into a field. Oh goats.

Creepy skull room in Grand Meteora

Meteora is a region filled with monasteries and nunneries, built precariously on dramatic rock formations to deter the Ottoman invaders of years passed. In the largest monastery in the region, Grand Meteora, there was this room filled with skulls. It felt very eerie and like something was not quite right in there.

A Cat hunting pigeons in Greece

We spotted this cat "hiding" and licking his chops, ready to pounce on some nearby pigeons. He sat under this outcropping of tree, waiting patiently for the right moment to strike.

We were strolling along some back roads in Meteora , Greece, when Kristin and I noticed this slowpoke crossing the road. We slowly and cautiously parked the car. I scooped up the little guy, turtle germs and all, and "expedited" his trip across the road.

Beautiful Oia

Santorini on a map looks like a dragon embryo, and Oia is the village at the head. It is photographer heaven. I have never been somewhere so small that packs so much punch. It is overwhelming at times, and I had to be mindful of my obsession so that I could actually stop to enjoy its beauty. There are no bad angles or dull walks, only beauty.

If you visit Santorini, then be sure to stay in Oia. Its splendor is best savored over several days of careful inspection and and exploration. Like a movie that needs to be seen again and again with new points seen each time, Oia has a sort of charm that seems infinite.

And here is a big Oia photo dump. I have to move on to our next stop - Meteora.

Fira is like Oia's big brother in Santorini. It is bigger, it has the main Santorini bus station, and is also a little higher. It is centrally located, and while beautiful, does not hold a candle to the beauty of Oia.

Before arriving in Santorini, I felt like I had already been. With all of the famous pictures out there, it is easy to conceive what it looks like. Or so it seems. While I did see a lot of familiar faces, like this blue domed church, the sheer impossibility of Santorini is something that must bee seen to be completely appreciated.