En Route to Meteora

After leaving Athens, we encountered Marathon 26 miles away. In 490 BC the heavily outnumbered Athenians beat the Persians at the Battle of Marathon just 10 years after the Persians wiped out 300 Spartans and 700 Thespians at Thermopylae. A runner was sent from Marathon to Athens to bring the news of victory. Legend is that he collapsed and died after delivering his message. If that was the case, it makes me wonder why anybody would decide to commemorate those 26 miles on a regular basis. During both the 1896 and 2004 Olympics, Marathon was the starting point for the men’s race and also for the women’s race in 2004. The photo I have included is the plain of Marathon where the battle took place. The burial mound there contains those who fell during an earlier battle there against the Persians.

We also passed Theva (sometimes called Thebes), which was where the story of Oedipus took place. Oedipus is the guy who blinded himself once he discovered that he had fulfilled a prophecy saying he would kill his father and marry his mother. Complicated little tale there. Nothing of the ancient times was still there, so not really anything of interest to photograph.

After lunch, we passed Thermopylae, where the Spartans faced the Persians. It is said that roughly 300 Spartans and 700 Thespians stood their ground at a narrow pass against 100,000 to 150,000 Persians. A very interesting film called 300 was made in 2007 starring Gerard Butler as the Spartan King Leonidas. More about that later when we actually made a stop at Thermopylae. Back in 480 BC, the terrain was totally different. The coastline was considered to be basically where the highway is now.

We also passed Mount Olympus and could see it clearly. This was the tallest mountain in Greece and considered to be the home of the ancient Greek gods and goddesses.

We continued on to Meteora to spend the night at a town called Kalambaka. I could see a convent (St Stephan) up on a rock formation from the balcony of my room. Had dinner with Kevin, Bronte, Barbara, Roberta and Chris.

The convents and monasteries were all built high up on rock formations back mainly in the 1500s in the part of Greece called Thessaly, which is near the border with Macedonia. Our first visit was to Convent Rousanou/St Barbara, built in 1560. We weren’t allowed to take photos inside and were only allowed in the church, which was completely covered with frescoes. Women had to wear skirts, so we were given material to tie around our waists as most of us weren’t wearing skirts. It had some lovely gardens.

At Monastery Varlaam across the way, we were allowed inside of the church, wine storage, museum and former hospital. We also had a great view of the convent from there. And yes, we walked all the way up and down the rock formations to get to them. Greece was my mountain tour. Everything was up or down a mountain – usually a very steep mountain. All together there are four monasteries and two convents still in existence out of the original twenty four.

The Holy Trinity Monastery is the most difficult to get to and was featured in the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only. Its setting was amazing. We went back down into the town to visit a place where icons were made before having lunch.

After lunch we returned to Thermopylae so we could take some photos of the area and of the monuments dedicated to King Leonidas and the Spartans who sacrificed their lives there. The Spartans knew they were outnumbered and didn’t stand a chance of winning, but believed they could rally the rest of Greece to join the fight against the Persians if they could just hold them off for a while with courage and dignity. They did. They held them off for three days until they were betrayed and the Persians were shown a back trail by which they could surround and slaughter their enemy.

We were let off of the tour coach on the right side of the highway. This is where the modern monuments to the Spartans and the Thespians are located. This was also where the sea was back in 480 BC. On the left side of the road was where the battle itself took place.

There is a monument at the top of Kolonos Hill (the burial mound of the Spartans). This dates from the 1950s, replacing a much earlier monument. There has been some sort of monument there since the time of the battle. To climb up there, knowing that the remains of the Spartans were beneath my feet was quite something.

Back across the road, I read the English translations of all of the monuments and took several photos of the statue of Leonidas. My favorite is the one taken from behind where he is facing the mountains and where the pass would have been.

Next time – one of my favorite places in the world, Delphi.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•