After flying out to Athens on the 5th January, we finally made it to Melbourne 24 days later. My pre-trip to-do list consisted of:
- Do a 5km park run ✓
- Draw a portrait ✓ (hastily done on the train then thrown in the bin)
- Learn some coding ✘
- Make a joke video based around birds and dinosaurs ✘
So it seems even with 3 weeks not working, it’s still quite hard to actually get anything done. In fact, one could almost argue it’s easier to get through a to-do list when you don’t have that much time to actually do it.
After cancelling/changing/rebooking flights, the pivotal email arrived whilst we were on the train from Athens to Kalambaka — Visa granted for Australia. I love going on trains, this was no exception and it was great to spend 2 days walking around the monasteries and impressive scenery at Meteora. One of the monasteries took 70 years to build, and the monks climbed up the side of the mountain with various pulleys and wooden posts driven into the rock. Our tour guide said the monks have a very strict life, waking up in the early hours to pray for 5 hours and have modest meals twice a day. The driver of our taxi to Tricolores refuted this and said it was a comfortable life with plenty of WiFi and mobile phones. January was a good time to visit Meteora. As there is limited shade, I imagine the heat of July/August would be quite overpowering, and most of the monasteries have a long flight of steps to reach them.
