Up to get first breakfast so we can hike up hill to the monasteries in the cool of the morning. Boy, it is hot, dripping hot here even at 8:00. We catch a shuttle bus at the waterfall fountain in town, and are dropped at the upper-most monastery.
What a very cool, awesome day. The monasteries are amazing. Probably one of the top ten coolest things I have seen. I mean, I have seen photos of them on the internet, and read about them, but this is one of those sights that when you really see it your jaw drops and you just stare in amazement.
To think, they built them about 600 years ago and hauled everything up by ropes and basket... the rope snaps! Oh well. God's will.
It was about 7KM and 95 degrees out but what fun. We sucked down the water. You have to dress appropriately to get in (doing much of anything appropriately is a real problem for me) but they had loaner scarves for Gail (for skirts and shawls... no knees or shoulders, thank you) and loaner pants for me (brown and baggy, I needed a hand, or a rope, to hold them up) so we walked around looking especially pious. The icons of Jesus showed him glowing, perhaps gazing at us rather pleased. Every step was uphill, honest to god. Even coming back down the steps was up. Walking the road and trails was easy, the hardest part was going up the entrance to each monastery. You have to think, these things were perched, virtually inaccessible about a quarter to half mile up on isolated rock towers. The only access was a basket or net hauled up by rope. The steps are a modern add-on, so they just wind up and up, a bridge crossing over the chasm, then more steps carved in the rock, up and up…
When we were done seeing the five monasteries we hiked a trail down valley, between rock cliffs, to our little guesthouse where we had a chilled bottle of white wine waiting. Ahhh. Took a cold shower. Double ahhhhh!
Tonight we return to the same taverna for dinner. I had mousaka, Gail had fresh grilled snapper, and we split cheese croquettes, rosé and water. Hours later, all was well. As we chatted with the owner, and we all complained about the heat, now 36 (about 97F, and humid, at 21:30 at night) up from 35 today, our hiking, and he mentioned that he too had been in the mountains today, across the valley at 1500 meters, picking fresh herbs for his taverna. He ran in and brought us back two fresh bunches, oregano, and some big leaf with bud thing out of which you make tea. So now we have two bundles of herbs to hang on the outside of my pack to dry.
I wonder if we can get them across the border onto Albania, Montenegro, the US?
"Really sir, it IS just oregano..."