Greece - the mountains are an interesting alternative to the islands
You should always try to choose the road that is “longer, but worse”, and bear in mind that travel is not for pleasure so much as for discovery. Northern Greece is a good place for discovering. Not that I look down on the Greek islands. They are great. One of my first trips took in the three most heavily promoted Greek islands: Rhodes, Crete and Santorini, and I have also written about the island of Kos. It is worth starting by seeing what everyone else sees and ticking off the compulsory programme, but then moving on to a more ambitious agenda as soon as possible.
Vergina and the tomb of Philip II
The best airport for exploring northern Greece is Thessaloniki. At the moment Ryanair flies there from Modlin, just outside Warsaw. I gave Thessaloniki itself a miss, apart from a quick look around before my flight home. I decided it would not be a highlight of the trip. The most interesting things lay further from the city. Although I am not keen on looking at old stones and excavations, I decided to visit Vergina.
Leaving the airport in the direction of Athens, after about 100 km you reach the sites where several Macedonian kings lived and were buried in the 4th century BC. The tomb of Philip II deserves special attention. Although there is no access to the tombs themselves, you can admire their decorated facades as well as the treasuries. The gold on display is measured in kilograms. Golden caskets, golden diadems, golden crowns, golden plaques… The interior of the underground museum, which also encloses the burial chambers, is shrouded in semi-darkness, and the illuminated gold objects magnify the impression many times over.
Meteora - monasteries on sheer rocks
We leave Philip, Alexander and the other Macedonian rulers behind us and drive on. What I like most on my travels are nature, landscapes and small, intimate towns. I am approaching Meteora. Although friends had warned me that civilisation and commercialisation have already reached the monasteries “suspended in the air” (which is exactly what Meteora means), I am genuinely impressed by what I see.
The striking landscape and the buildings perched on top of sheer, solitary rocks have lost none of their magic over time. In the past, both the monks and their guests had to be hauled up on ropes to reach these places of meditation. The same went for everything needed for life cut off from the world. Today the monasteries are reached by steps, footbridges, lifts and even a cable car.
With a base in the town of Kalambaka, you can visit several of these fascinating buildings: Agios Nikolaos, Roussanou, Great Meteoron, Agia Triada, Varlaam and Agios Stefanos.
Although touring the interiors is still impressive, the fact that inside they are remarkably clean, modern, orderly and electrified makes it hard for the imagination to picture what they might have looked like in the 14th century, when many of them were being built.
They are more impressive from the outside, especially as driving around the valleys you always see them from a different angle. And as you climb up to one of them, another and then another come into view, nearer or further away. Maybe we were very lucky, but the April air in northern Greece was exceptionally clear. The horizon was closed off by mighty, distant snow-capped peaks.
Remember that for the people who live there, “meteora” are not only the monasteries but also the rock formations, and even individual rocks. When choosing my room, I decided to pay extra for a view of Meteora. Unfortunately, it was a big disappointment: there was a view, all right, but of a large car park with boulders scattered here and there…
Watch on YouTube
Metsovo and the mountain village of Papigo
From Meteora it is a 3-hour drive to Papigo. On the way we make a short stop in Metsovo, a kind of Greek Zakopane (Poland's best-known mountain resort), only on a much smaller scale. It deserves no more than a stroll, a coffee and perhaps lunch at the Estatopio tavern on the main square.
The main goal of our trip, Papigo, is amazing. The abandoned mountain village was restored and adapted by a group of wealthy corporate types from Athens (or so local legend has it…). Preserving its unified look, dominated by grey stone with roofs covered in stone slates, they converted most of the buildings into small guest houses, cafés and restaurants.
You stay in comfort, sleep under feather duvets, drink wonderful coffee while gazing at the surrounding peaks and keep warm by the open fire. The air is clear and crisp.
Papigo is also a good base for shorter and longer mountain walks. In April there was still a lot of snow higher up on the trails; if you choose this time of year, come well prepared. We set off for Mikro Papigo, a slightly smaller settlement a little higher up.
The area has no shortage of beautiful valleys, mountain rivers to walk along and stone bridges spanning the streams, which date back to the period of Turkish rule in these lands. Sometimes, walking along a stream, you will pass hermitage churches. They are often open, decorated with frescoes and blackened by candle smoke. Stepping into their dark interiors, you feel that no tourist has ever been there before you.
While you are in Papigo, you can nip across for a short or longer trip to Albania (the border is less than 50 km away). But that is a subject for another story .
