We are now in Thessaloniki (late at night in a huge internet cafe) on which might be our last night in Greece before we hit Istanbul, Turkey. Finally got to the Athens Archaeological Museum on Saturday and saw some of the great items, that we've heard about. Things there from Mycenae, which were cool to see since we've visited the site. I really liked seeing all the gold stuff including jewellry, pieces for clothing, cups, bowls and funeral masks (prehistoric examples here). The FAMOUS 'mask of Agamemnon' (which isn't actually him because the mask is like 500 yrs older than him) was ok, but there is so much other amazing gold stuff (Mum would definitely go mad!) that it didn't really seem extra special.
Mask of Agamemnon - these masks were secured over the bodies of those buried (Athens Archaeological Museum).
Gold decorations as well as 2 examples of gold coverings for the bodies of children in their graves.

Bronze statue of Zeus (about to throw an invisible thunderbolt).

They couldn't figure out if this guy was Poseidon or Zeus - Lei, any ideas???

Ahhh so that's where the old pita bread goes!!!!!

After leaving Athens Saturday lunch time (after stocking up on donuts) we made it to Kastraki, a tiny town near Meteora. Stayed the night in a great hotel (although the receptionist was very lack-lustre) called the Sydney Hotel - yes it is owned by an Australian and passionately furnished with tacky Aussie souveniers and plastic kangaroos.
Mmmmm donut

The flashy Sydney Hotel sign (room 45euro for 3 BTW incl bfast)

This morning I got up early and went for a walk around the town. No-one about except for the bakers and a few shop-owners (and chooks & cats). Was amazed to see how close some of the houses in Kastraki are to the rocks of Meteora - they are literally in their backyards!
Now that is backyard art...

Meteora is famous for its monasteries on top of rocky outcrops. There are 6 monasteries visible (and visitable) from the road, yet there used to be 24. When reading the stories about why these monastaries exist, I cannot help but think that the people who started these places were nutcases. Basically some guy turns up and climbs to the top of a rock in the 11th Century AD and decides to live there, in the name of God of course.

So then him and his monastry get well-known and so the emporers start giving over lots of presents like gold and jewels... Now the tourists hand over the presents (with entry fees) therefore enabling installation of mod-cons like air-conditioning and flushing toilets. The old monastaries have been re-built a few times but the winch systems used to lift the monks and supplies (in rope nets) to the tops of the rocks are still in use. (A really good site with some nice b&w pics here and another here.)
In front of Varlaam monastery, note small bridge across from one rock to the other.

One of the frequent road-stops for photos.

One of the souvenier-sellers, she has family in Melbourne (as so many Greeks we've met do!)

Cats everywhere... Here's a rockclimbing one :)

After picking up some tiropita (cheese pie) from a lovely, old, cross-eyed lady (Johnno pointed this out a few times throughout the rest of the day), we then left Meteora aiming for Thessaloniki via Mt Olympus (2917m highest peak). Johnno really wanted to go for a drive past/up it and I'm glad he did, it is spectacular. Check out the snow!!!

There are hiking paths that take about 5 hours to the top from about 1000m elevation. The walk to the top of Olympus is definitely on my list of 'hikes to do' (just to let you know Dad, in case you want to join :)).

Andio/goodbye (for now). Claire

Sunset over Mt Olympus and thankfully the clouds dropped for a bit...

Revealing... LOTS OF SNOW :)


NX Tally (yes it's back). Now VII as saw the following:
16/11 Grey NX: Itea, a town near (ferry town) Patras
17/11 White NX in Athens (body kit)