Welcome to Jordan!

Dominique and I arrived in Jordan late in the afternoon the day before we were joining the G Adventures tour that would take us from the capital Amman to Aqaba on the banks of the Red Sea, by way of the Dead Sea and of course, Petra.

We thought it was hot in Greece...

Jordan is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north, Israel and Palestine to the west. Talk about questionable neighbours. We had booked an Air BnB and it had a washing machine! So of course we did laundry that night in preparations for the 8 day tour. We had decided to go with a group coz well, remember who the neighbours are, AND we were two females traveling alone in a Muslim country and we weren't quite sure how that would go down. It just felt like the safer thing to do. For those of you who don't know, Dominique and met while on a tour in China, and that group was fantastic! Anyway it was only for 8 days, surely we could handle what ever was thrown our way.

We weren't particularly hungry so we stayed in and made order of our things and reviewed what the tour had in store for us. That's when I read the following about the day in Petra:
    "Hike approx 25km (15 mi) to cover the entire site. Climb (steps) to two sacred hilltops. Depending on the weather and the interests of the group, opt to hike an additional 2km (1.2 mi) to see the magnificent views from the top of the treasury. This makes for a unique and unforgettable experience."

???!!!! 25 KILOMETRES?????!!! Surely that was a typo.
25 km in THE DESERT???? Are you kidding me?? I had flashbacks to the 18km walk we recently survived, errrr I mean, enjoyed, and the stiff muscles we endured the next day (it also reminded me of that stow-away cockroach....shudders)

Ironically this was just outside the Air BnB - a Greek restaurant

Crazy rock climbing hermits and monks

The first stop on our sunset excursion was to take photos of Holy Trinity. Since we'd already had our fill of that we took pictures of the goats wandering past - and their doggie shepherds. I was trying to entice one to come over for a cuddle when the guide told me that it wasn't a good idea. These guys had a job to do and they took it very seriously. And once he told me that I could see that they both had their backs to the goats and were facing us - to make sure we didn't get too close to their charges.

Our next stop was Stefanos - again we had already done that so we waited outside...where there was a mamma cat and her two kittens. They were up for a cuddle. (yeah I did a lot of cat and dog petting on this trip).


We then went into town to visit one of the oldest churches in the world, Kimisseoss tis theotokou.
Originally built in the 11th century it has had some facelifts in its history, but everytime the restaurateurs have recycled the materials from the past structure. There are even pieces of marble from the temple of Apollo that was there before the church imbedded in the walls.

As you enter into the vestibule (where non-christians had to stay back in the day) there are paintings of heaven on the right and hell on the left: A word of warning to the parishioners?

When you enter the small church you can't help but notice the marble pulpit - the original marble pulpit from way back when. They still hold regular services here.


We then rushed back up the hill to see the setting sun on this absolutely beautiful place.

The next morning we set off on a hike behind the monoliths and up to the top. Along the way we saw some of the original caves where the first hermits set up camp. These guys started coming to the area in the 9th century, looking for a quiet place to be closer to god.

Initially they had to climb the rocks to get to their cave - this is not an easy feat without ropes, they are all vertical and sheer faces. More and more hermits came to the area and they started meeting just once a week to hold services. Then after 5 centuries of this they decided to build a monastery. It took years to gather the materials together, and then they had to haul all that stuff up to the top with baskets on ropes.


They built 24 altogether, but today only 6 are still in use.


Our hike ended at the biggest monastery Great Meteoro. It is massive. And there's only one monk living there. In this monastery you can visit the old kitchen with its blackened domed roof, the ossuary where the skulls and bones of the old monks are stored, the old winery full of massive barrels and other winemaking accoutrements, and the small museum which had some of the very first printed manuscripts. Fantastic!

I'm not sure why but by the time I reached Great Meteoro my knee was killing me. Luckily/sadly we had a bus to catch directly after the hike so I was able to put it up a little. It was very swollen.
We were on our way back to Athens and our last day in Greece.

Meteora

In the morning there was a mist over Meteora - totally magical. When I saw them for the first time with the light of day, they reminded me of someplace I visited a few years ago: Uluru.

A long, long, long, long time ago (they reckon about 60 million years ago), this area of Greece was under water (just like central Australia). Where the Meteora monoliths are now was a delta where the rivers ended in a massive lake. Sediment from the rivers settled and kept settling over many years. You can actually see the different layers in the rocks. Then an earthquake hit the area, the lake was drained and became what is now the Aegean sea. The stones of Meteora were pushed up. The looser material was washed away but the silt underneath made up mostly of sandstone and conglomerate, underwent a natural process that basically made it into a concrete-like substance. Over the years, rain, wind and extreme temperatures softened the edges and made the rocks what they are today. Cool eh?


We went up to the farthest monastery first, Stephanos, which nowadays is a nunnery. It is the most accessible one with only a small bridge to cross. Although all the monasteries have been there since sound the 14th century, they have all been renovated and look quite new except for the architecture. They are stunning. And the views, well...

They are quite big, but the areas open to the public are very restricted. Before entering the monasteries or nunneries women have to put on a skirt (if they're not wearing one already) and men have to be dressed modestly, and you have to pay 3 Euros to get in.


Although all the monasteries have been renovated, the one thing that remains virtually untouched is the chapel. The walls are all covered with Byzantine paintings. Golden candelabras, coloured glass in the small round windows carved narrow wooden seats with armrest as high as your shoulders (come to think of it, I'm not sure they were armrests!). They are all quite small, but stunning. Sorry no photos allowed.


We then went on to visit Holy Trinity monastery which is ''next door''. But to get to it you first had to walk down into the valley and then take stairs back up to the top.


Same spiel with the skirts - swanky polyester wrap- arounds, 3 Euros...but they gave everyone some Turkish delight so they get extra marks.
Holy Trinity monastery is the one that you see in all the photos so we actually spent more time outside taking photos than inside!

We kept walking back towards Kastraki (where we were staying) and the next monastery (now nunnery) was Roussanou. This is the most heavily populated monastery/nunnery with 34 ladies (the others number from 1 to 6 people only). These ladies are industrious! In their gift shop they sell their honey, hand cream, hand embroidered hankies, wine, jams, you name it!
It also had a museum-y type room with some ancient artifacts - old priest's robes, chalices, holy spoons and lances (lances??), but the piece de resistance, IMHO, was the manuscript of Plato's works. Wow.


After Roussanou we had to head back down to town to grab a bite and to be there in time for our sunset tour.


One of the ladies from our sailing school had come to Meteora too and we decided to join her on this excursion.

Road to Meteora

We were sad to say farewell to Hydra, but today we were off to see Meteora. This was a place both of us put on our ''must see'' list.


We caught the first ferry back to Athens and then took the metro to the bus station. Except is wasn't the bus station. It was the train station. Bugger. OK so we took a taxi from the train station to the actual bus station and waited for a few hours. Bus stations are depressing.

The bus ride to Meteora is 5 hours long through some beautiful scenery, I'd like to say I saw it all and drank it in like a desperately thirsty person, but I didn't. I read my book and slept.

We arrived in Kastraki (the village at the foothills of Meteora) in the early evening. Holy crap. Monolithic stone pillars jutting from the ground and reaching towards the sky. Jaw dropping. And some dudes a long time ago though that would be a great to put some monasteries there. At the top.

Our accoms were very close to the town square where we were dropped off - admittedly, its a very small town and we met our next hostess. She explained where every thing was and how to work stuff before she left us to our own devices.


You know when you get to a new place and check everything out - opening cupboards and drawers and such? Well we did the same and when we got to the bathroom we discovered that we had the smallest shower ever. Width-wise I could stand side ways. Just. I couldn't bring my arms up to wash my hair for example. To do that I had to turn length-wise. But then I couldn't bend to wash my feet. We had more room on the boat! The room was impeccable though, all slate and wood.


We went for dinner in the first place we came across and there wasn't much on the menu for me so I went for the spaghetti napolitain. The waiter said no. But he did suggest the chicken souvlaki. I told him I was a vegetarian and the only thing he could offer me was dolmates. Now, I do enjoy dolmates, but as a whole meal? I'd been eating junk food on the bus all day! Fine I had the bloody dolmates. They were fine, but I was not quite satisfied.


Oh well, tomorrow was going to be a great day.

Dolche far niente redux

It was now Sunday, and when we emerged from our rooms we could hear the priests chanting from a nearby church. Well, perhaps breakfast on the balcony is in order! I made myself a cup of tea and Dominique ate a yogurt that she had bought the day before. Then the lovely pension lady came up with a tray with OJ and breakfast cake! How awesome is this place??!!


We spent the morning walking all over the little town and along the coast, oo-ing and ah-ing and taking loads of pictures. Until finally our stomachs lead us back to the port where everything was still open (it was Sunday after all).

There were cats e'ry where!

After we had satisfied our hunger we decided that beach time was in order. So off we went to the ''big'' beach. Now Hydra is pretty much just a mountain that comes out of the sea, so there aren't any beaches as you might picture them. There are what I would call swimming platforms out of concerte where you can take the ladder down into the water. There is only one ''beach'' and it is only about 20 meters long and 5 meters wide. And there's no sand. Its all rocks. Still, we had a very lovely afternoon lazing in the sun and going for a swim in the crystal clear waters.

A spectacular day.

Hydra

We left Aegina and headed to Athens with no idea what we were going to do for the next couple of days.

We had a place booked in Meteora for Monday, but it was Saturday, and all of the places suggested to us were too far away from Meteora for us to consider them. So once in port at Athens we went in search of a cafe (with WiFi) to consider our options. You'd think that a giant port like the one in Athens would have thousands of cafes lining the streets. Not so. By lucky happenstance we came across a travel agent. They'd know what we should do!


''We have two days to kill. What should we do?''
The guy behind the desk stared at us like we were nuts. We went into greater detail - what we'd already seen and done, and he looked a little less daunted. Where would you go if you had two days off we asked. Then the light went on, ''Hydra. Why don't you go to Hydra?'' Only one hour by ferry and very lovely, but not so big that you think you're missing out on things.

DONE!
Off to Hydra we went.

What an excellent suggestion!

We arrived to a small port, again in ye olde style: narrow alleys cobbled streets, little shops and restaurants with checkered tablecloths...and massive yachts.

Hydra also doesn't have any motorized vehicles. It is so quiet and peaceful! We quickly found a pension (no hotels here), hosted by a nice Greek lady with crazy blonde hair. It was an old two story building with a balcony overlooking the courtyard. Just brilliant.


We did our habitual recon mission and fell in love with Hydra.


Yeah, there was an inordinate amount of really rich people, but the village itself was very charming. You'd think after Oia and Chania we would be immune to that charm, but naw.

We had a fantastic, cheap dinner in one of the little alleys and when we got back to our pension, we found that the restaurant in the square just in front of it had entertainment.

I made myself a cup of tea and Dominique took out her journal, and we were serenaded by some Greek music. Fantastic. We mentally thanked our reluctant travel agent for this great idea.

I'm Sailing Away

True to their word Dominique and I slowly started picking up the lingo and anticipating when to put out the fenders (with a round turn and two half hitches), when to bring in the fenders (with a clove hitch), when to ready the port and starboard lines...yeah, I'm showing off a little here.

Our first two days we had some rain and some good wind - at one point we were almost perpendicular to the water, at which point Jake said, ''shit'' and I started to get nervous. But it was all great fun and we didn't really notice the massive learning curve happening.


The following couple of days we had rather flat days with no wind, so we learned how to do a man overboard maneuver and how to tie various knots. As a dyslexic person - knots are a bitch.


We rendezvoused every evening at a different port with the other boats and had dinner at local restaurants. It was really great to meet the other folks that were from all corners of the planet.

I won't go into every detail of what we did each day, suffice it to say that it was overall a very enjoyable experience and although I only learned the very smallest of things pertaining to sailing, I felt I learned a great deal.

Jake, our instructor, is indeed insane, but those are my favorite types of people.