DAY 89 – MORE SUNNY ATHENS
I think I walked around thirty kilometers yesterday and I have the feeling that I have pretty much done Athens now. As usual something really interesting has come up. This time it’s the Meteora (more tomorrow).
For the first 81 days of my tour I had the lonely planet as my constant companion, friend and guide. Upon leaving Haifa and the Middle East I became guideless. Now I know the Lonely Planet sometimes lies and gets things wrong. But. You cannot do the sort of tour I just did very easily without a guidebook of some sort. It sorts out all aspects of travel from the location of depots to the prices and likely travel times. It helps with accommodation from where to find hostels to how much they cost and what condition they are in. And most of all it helps by suggesting things to do and how to do them, which enable you to plan ahead. I managed okay in Cyprus because I only need to get to Ayia Napa and find a pub (not very hard at all) and in Rhodes because Sheltered Dave had the Western Europe on a Shoestring Lonely Planet. But upon arrival in Athens I was alone and guideless. And since then I have sort of had the feeling of a blind man groping around in the dark. Getting to the Meteora wasn’t too difficult but it highlighted how much easier things are with a good guidebook.
With the help from my hostel manager (a bit like pulling teeth) I caught a bus to Kastraki at the base of the Meteora, which gave me a chance to see the Greek countryside and what their beautiful coastline looks like when it doesn’t have two thousand deck chairs on it.
Kastraki is a small Greek mountain village. It sort of feels like it was constructed to cater to the tourists who flock to see the Meteora but has managed to retain the Greek mountain village charm despite the abundance of hotels and restaurants. Walking around town at dusk I think every meal in town was being cooked over an open fire which made it smell like open fireplaces and bbqs. Yum.
