Up bright and early at 06:30 for a shower before breakfast. As so Euro there seems to a different shower system in each hotel. Turn? Pull out? Pull back and twist? Burn your tush or freeze it? Eventually you figure it all out. Just something to conquer and master in your travels and it is far less stressful than passing through Greek passport control! I think back to many years ago where a plenitude of destinations I travelled to in Greece had cold water showers at best so it is not without gratitude I enjoy hot showers more in Europe than I ever do at home.
Breakfast at Kastalia Boutique Hotel is basic. Very sweet watermelon. The breads are fresh but the pain au chocolat and the croissants are stale. Bacon and scrambled eggs if you so wish. Some bottled water would have been appreciated. Tap water is considered “safe” in Greece unless you are advised by signage or tongue not to drink it. Not willing to chance a torn up and aggrieved digestive system then better to stick to bottled water, microplastics and all.
What a spectacular view from the hotel’s breakfast room with the ocean far below as seen through borders of mountains. Thousands of olive trees in the fertile flat lands are part of this incredible and unique view.
08:00 and we hit the road and winding it is. Up and down and all around. We even stopped twice as cows were lazily meandering across the road.
Heavily forested for most of a three-hour trip and the petrol level is low such that we coast down the road when able. Two gas stations were closed. Shit are all the gas stations in this area closed on Sundays? My guess that there are late petrol station openings on Sundays was correct as we later learnt. Gas stations open at 09:00 in this part of Greece on Sundays. On these smaller roads there are no 24-hour petrol stations.
As we are just about to be stranded gasless in the high mountains a town appears in the distance. They must have a petrol station…right??? Oh no. It is a small town but there simply must be a gas station! And we stop at a small store and told just keep going and just past that “big intersection” there is a gas station which there was. Treasure in the Sierra Madre Mountains so as to speak!
Thankful and destressed we continue to Meteora and its unforgettable monasteries.
