Skopelos

And so the Vacation from the vacation begins.  Skopelos was our first island. 

The view of the port, day and night.

The second day there, we rented a car and drove the whole island, stopping off at all the beaches, ports and sites on my list.  Here is an olive grove that is all terraced with cyclamen that grow wild there.  

On the road to see the Mama Mia Chapel, we spotted a sheep farmer herding his sheep along the ridge between the road and the ocean.  I made it black and white because he had on a neon green jacket and it just didn't look as classic with that color jumping out.

Here is the chapel on the rock that was made famous by the Mama Mia movie.  They used the outside and the stairs in the movie, but not the inside.  

Here is the beginning to the stairs that lead you up.  This is where Pierce Bronson sang to Meryl Strep on the way to their daughter's wedding. (that ended up being their wedding instead, lol)

One look at those stairs and I was not sure if I could make it up them, not because of it being hard to do, but because I am afraid of heights.  But as with our hike in Cinque Terre, I knew I had to do it!  I had come that far and could not miss it.

The church was so tiny, I already knew ahead that it was not used for the inside parts, but one step inside would have told you so anyway.

We stopped at a port to have dinner and watch the sunset.  We were well rewarded!

Next morning at our port.

I went for a walk while John stayed by the pool.  It was so fun wandering the streets and taking photos all on my own.  As I walked along, I heard some laughter coming from a side street.  As I got there it got louder and louder.  It ended up being these two women.  They were looking at a few photos that one of them was holding.  They were having such a good time with those photos that they didn't even notice me taking their photo.  It made me smile.

John had a good time while I was gone.

Meteora

I had seen photos of this place, so I was prepared for it.  Or so I thought!  Oh wow!  It was amazing!  The first thing we had pointed out to us when we arrived in town.  wait, back up. short story. On the final bus into town the woman who was taking the money asked where we needed to go.  Then she asked a man in the back of the bus if he knew of our hotel.  He did.  He called them to tell them to meet us at the bus stop to get our luggage there.  The owner's wife said he was not there with the car so she could not come get us.  Now, we had not even expected a ride from the bus stop, but we thought it was nice of this man to jump in and try to get us one.  So instead, he got off the bus when we did, and since his home was in the direction of our hotel, he walked us most of the way there.  So friendly and treating us as if we were the first visitors to his town.  So proud to show us the side of the mountain and tell us what is was about.  now back to the photo.  Every April they have a festival of St. George, at the end of the church service the youth of the town climb this rock and remove last years scarves and replace them with new ones.  They are for wishes for good health.

We took a local bus to the top of the mountains and walked the road to see all of the monasteries on the rocks.  I only actually went inside one. 

Such incredible stuff just thinking about how they were built way up there.  Even today it would be a feat.  They were built by monks sometime around the 11th and 12th century, but there are remains that date back way before that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteora is full of information about them if you want to know more.

Below is the one that I went into.  There is a strict dress code at all of them, one would not even allow women in.  I had on shorts and a sleeveless top, but used my sweater and they hand out wrap around skirts for the women to enter.

It is a tiny chapel and crammed with people, you can hardly move.  I took this photo from my hip, without actually aiming at anything but the ceiling.  I was sure the man in front of me was going to block the whole thing.  Pictures are not supposed to be taken and I think it is because it would take forever to move the crowds through if we all stopped to shoot and pose.  I just took one, just in case they noticed, I didn't want to get in trouble.  I would not have tried it if there was a worship service going on.

Yep, I climbed all those stairs to get up to it...and crossed a bridge!

They have gondolas to get supplies to the monasteries.

Here is another way they get supplies up to the monasteries

This is my favorite one.

The road that goes between them.

Down below, near the town are some remains of ancient places that the monks lived before the ones on the pinnacles were built. 

Sunset from the town.

Stars from our deck.

Olympia

Olympia was such a special place for us!    Such a relaxing town.  Walking through the ruins was like being in a cemetery. Quiet and deserted.

John played it down, but I just know he was pretty much in awe seeing the site of the Ancient Olympic Games.  All his life he has loved running and passed his love of it to his son and grandson.  

Next to our hotel was a beautiful Greek Orthodox church.  Sunday morning the music and singing could be heard from the street.  It pulled me in.  I took this shot from outside with my telephoto.  

The streets of Olympia looked like this most of the time.  Touristy, but not a tourist trap.

We took a walk along the little creek by the Ancient Olympic Ruins.

When we checked into our hotel, the owners son circled all the local sites on a map for us.  As he circled one place, a hotel,  he said, "if you want to swim, you can go here, my uncle owns it, If anyone asks who you are, just show them your room key"  We thought it was a joke, but thought why  would he say it if not true.  Sure enough it was true!  It was a Best Western at the top of the hill by the town.  A long hike up, but we spend an awesome relaxing afternoon there.  Most of the time we were alone in the pool area!  Nobody even asked who we were.  We enjoyed it there so much, we stayed for dinner. 

Here is the view of the valley from where we had our dinner that day at the 'uncle's hotel'.  A great location in a garden where they actually grew their own food right by the trees that surrounded the tables. 

Our hotel was family owned and operated.  On the wall in the breakfast room were these torches, Beside them were photos.  It turns out that two of the torches were carried by the owner who was an athlete in the Olympics and the last one was carried by his son!  

The train system in Greece was shut down a few years back during the financial crisis.  All over the country you could see the remains of train stations and tracks.  This shot was taken of the sunrise the morning we were waiting for the bus to take us up to Kalambaka.