There has still been lot's to do here in Kalloni. We picked some more blueberries, boiled walnuts of a kind in a 1m by 1m bin to make a sweet (didn't get to try it yet), starting digging a flat camping pitch down the hill (real back breaking work) and painted the old barrels around the terrace (decorated by Federica, at her own inspiration!). The most interesting was when we received a course in beekeeping. Together with the visiting bee expert we visited the hives and helped migrate colonies into bigger boxes. We never before had the opportunity to be so close to real bee hives!
Last Sunday we had lunch together with a couple of guests / friends as well, which was a real feast prepared by Aleka. And then the next day, on our last afternoon here, she outdid herself again by making us pita "gyros" (with fried mushrooms instead of gyros for us), which was unbelievably tasty.
And with that it was time to say goodbye. We packed up the van again and with misty eyes hugged farewell. The last three weeks have been unbelievable and we won't soon forget our new family in Tzoumerka!
Before heading back to the coast we're driving further inland, to the Meteora mountains: a well-known destination featuring giant rocky spires with monasteries perched at the tops. At some point there were as many as 24 monasteries, though now six are still maintained, in active use and open to visitors. We arrived late and slept outside town on the side of a dirt road. The next morning (early, to beat the heat) we started a hike from the town straight up into the hills. This hike was amazing, the views of the rocks and monasteries and then the views down from those structures were unrivaled. The bases of the monasteries can also be accessed by road, so busloads of tourists are coming and going (mind you would still need to climb some 50-100m of stairs to actually enter). But almost nobody was going around on foot, so the path was quiet (though scorching hot, with 35°C before midday).
The end of the day we used to drive all the way to the coast, to Igoumenitsa. We plan to spend the next day just hanging out on a campsite by the beach, as our ferry leaves that night.
