Day 39: METEORA

Another overcast and cool day.  Farewell to Athens at 8 am, and we set out on a 400km drive to Kalambaka in the centre of Greece.  Outside of Athens we passed the small plain of Marathon where an historic battle occured in 490 BC, the Greeks defeating the Persians.  A runner was sent to take the news of victory to Athens, a distance of 42.195km -- the first marathon run in history.  That explains the strange length of the marathon event in the Olympics and elsewhere.

Further north we stopped at the site of the Battle of Thermopylae.  In 480 BC Xerxes led an army said to number over 1 million supported by a large navy against Greece.  At this spot the way south was between two mountains, wide enough only for 2 chariots abreast.  King Leonadis of Sparta with 300 troops and 700 Thespians, blocked the path and stood ready to hold the Persians at bay.  A shepherd boy betrayed them, leading an advance force of the enemy over the mountian and behind the Spartans.  But they were spotted, the sun flashing off their armour.  So the Spartans determeind to die in further delaying the Persians.  They built another wall which they defended until all had died.  Xerxes honoured their bravery, cremating their bodies and burying them as heroes on the nearby mountian top.  The delay of 4 days allowed Athens to be completely evacuated to the islands.  Xerxes arrived to find a deserted city, which he demolished.  He was then defeated through Greek trickery in the Straits of Salamis.  We took photos of the memorial at Themopylae;  had lunch a little further on; and arrived at our hotel in Kalambaka at 3 pm.

Overlooking the town are a series of rock formations 900 feet high; and perched on the top of them are some 20 monasteries, 6 of which are still active.  And living in caves on the rocks are a number of hermits.  It was believed (falsely) that the rocks fell from the skies as meteors;  so the place is called Meteora.

Today a concealed road leads to near several of the monasteries.  The scenery is out of this world.  We visited one of the six which is now a nunnery.  The icons in the chapel date to the 16th century.  Our guide gave as good a theological explanation of the iconography there as ever I have heard.  I am afraid it was all a bit overwhelming to our evangelical christian tour members.  Anything other than the bible is suspect to them.  On the way back to the hotel we stopped at an icon workshop where we were shown how the icons are created: a painstaking process of great skill.

A nice dinner; and tomorrow we head off again at 8 am to Thessaloniki.  The  end is in sight!  Today's pictorial offering is here.