An incredible day today! Where to begin?

We enjoyed a great breakfast (again!) and then checked out of the Athens Cypria Hotel. Thanks Frossa for your hospitality! Rick, Mike, and I walked to the Budget office and picked up our rental car–transportation for the next 6 days.

Then it was out of Athens. Once I pick up the rental car, it would take wild donkeys to take me anywhere but OUT OF TOWN! Boy, it’s hairy driving in Athens. As it turns out, however, traffic was light and the roads were clear and we made good time getting north west to Thermopylae (a journey of only a couple of hours).

We spent over an hour on the site of Thermopylae, rehashing that pivotal battle and the people who fought there. What a great site. And what a great story. If you come to Greece, you must visit Thermopylae. Just make sure you read Steven Pressfield’s Gates of Fire (http://www.amazon.com/Gates-Fire-Novel-Battle-Thermopylae/dp/0553580531) before your visit. That way you’ll have a clue about what you’re looking at. Between the novel and my audio guide … The guys seemed to really enjoy the story of the battle, the phalanx formation of the Spartans, and the hubris of the Persians.

We moved on to Meteora (another 2 hour drive–if you drive like a Greek, which I do). Meteora is simply incredible. I’m including some of the photos I took today, although (of course) the photos simply do not do justice to these vistas. The monasteries you see were built in the 11th-14th century. Every brick, pail of mortar, glass pane, roof tile, board, and pot was winched up to the top of these incredible rock pillars by hand. Astonishing!

Rick and Mike loved this. They couldn’t stop oggling and oohing and ahhing. It was fun to watch their reactions and remember the first time I came to Meteora–before I became so jaded and cynical!

After touring the Monastery of the Great Metroon (with its wonderful collection of manuscripts dating from the 9th century–among them a complete copy of Plato!), we drove on to Vergina and the beautiful Evrydike bed and breakfast. It’s a wonderful place to stay in the lovely little village that holds one of the greatest museums in the world. We’ll visit tomorrow and I’ll let you know how it went.