A Long Transit

Hello Everyone.

We have finally arrived in Kalampaka (45 minutes walk away from Meteora) and it is really beautiful town here. Our hotel here is beautiful; it is right next to the dramatic cliffs and has a view overlooking the plains, it's "cheap" and only 3 blocks from town centre. We had a 10 hour ferry ride where we slept on the floor and then a 6 hour train ride before getting here. We gratefully accepted a ride uphill to the hotel from the hotel manager (I linked the place for those who want to check it out). We had a nice diner in the centre and now we are using our free internet. Tomorrow we will visit meteora in the morning.

We have changed our plan again and will probably tour Italy while accomodation prices are cheaper before doing our detour to Frankfurt. So we now have to decide what to do and also start working on our Italian (which will be easier than Greek).

We had a great time in Santorini despite the massive chilly winds and anglo friendly food (french fries with everything, the whole chicken and potatoes must have changed) and people. We got a very nice hostel guy to give us lots of tips, which led us to some real gems. We had an amazing hike on the caldera edge from the city of Fira to the town on Oia. We hiked through cliffs and fields and numerous cave villas which were really beautiful (we have tons of pictures). The next day we managed to rent an ATV for 15 euros and drove to Red Beach, which suprisingly had no wind. We had some amazing swims and lots of sun there among red lava cliffs. We then drove to the other end of the island to the lighthouse and then to a "traditional greek settlement" where we explored the labyrinth streets. The next day we visited Ancient Thira (1 hour vertical hike from our hotel), which was an incredibly well preserved and very large city at the top of a very steep cliff. Dasha and I were really impressed by the site despite the roaring winds.

As you can tell we are still having a blast and looking forward to all the other countries we will visit soon. I have quickly realized the limitations of this trip and that 120 days will go by really fast (almost a month already!!!).

Time to head off to bed, early start tomorrow with a complimentary breakfast! Free Yogurt!

By the way... Thanks Janelle for helping me find my shoes, they are FANTASTIC and really really comfortable! Enjoy your time on the beaches in Maui. And thanks Matante rose for the tips for Greece they have been helpful even if nobody speaks greek to us (except for the man on the train, people here really like to talk).