Volos

 February 27

Our ship left Athens at 5 pm last night.  Here is a map of our sailing itinerary:

imagecredit https://www.vikingcruisescanada.com/oceans/cruise-destinations/eastern-mediterranean/greek-odyssey/index.html

We could feel the ship really making time overnight, but by morning we had docked in Volos and all was still.

Volos is a coastal city on mainland Greece, halfway between the 2 largest cities of Greece:  Athens and Thessaloniki to the north.  According to mythology, Volos was the starting point for Jason and the Argonauts.

imagecredit https://the-past.com/review/travel/volos-archaeology-and-myth-in-thessaly/

However, we did not see much of Volos at all.  Today we booked a full day excursion to Meteora, a 2 hour bus drive each way, travelling through the plains of Thessaly.  These are monasteries built "where meteors fly".

From the 9th to the 11th centuries, Christian hermit monks lived in caves to seek solitude and to practice extreme asceticism.  

In the 14th century, the monks decided to move to escape instability and Turkish occupation. The monks decided that the top of these rocks would provide the perfect peaceful isolation.  Eventually 24 monasteries were built here, 6 of which are still active and now open to the public (they rotate which one is open each day).  We visited 2 of them today.

imagecredit https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/case-studies/a9497-meteora-monastery-in-greece/

In the 1920s, visitors were pulled to the top using a net pulled by a rope.

imagecredit https://tbeartravels.com/2012/10/28/day-1-meteora-greece/

Thankfully, today we can access the monasteries on rock-carved steps or by bridges.

The Germans bombed the monasteries during WWII and stole many valuable art pieces which were never returned.  There is a painting that depicts a story of a Nazi officer who was trying to climb to the top to replace the Greek flag with the Nazi swastika.  One of the monks began chanting. Lo!  A miracle!  The soldier lost his footing and fell to his death.  Guides often caption the painting as "Another One Bites the Dust".

imagecredit https://projectstranger.navisioglobal.com/2018/02/16/suspended-in-air/

The monasteries have a strict dress code:  shoulders must be covered, and women MUST wear skirts.  Since most women tourists sensibly wear pants while climbing, wrap skirts are helpfully provided.

The first one we visited was St Stephen's Monastery.  It is the most accessible because you can park in the parking area and cross a bridge and you are there.  The bridge used to be portable for privacy but now it is permanent.  Thirty nuns live in this monastery, rotating jobs.

imagecredit https://www.viking.com/myjourney/shore-excursions/2026-02-27

Our guide Efi took us through a courtyard and few rooms, that is all that is open to the public.  The rooms were tiny, not bigger than our kitchen, and really could not fit more than one tour group at a time.  We are glad we are not here in the summer!

We were not allowed pictures inside, so we bought some post cards in their tiny gift shop.

Back on the bus, then a quick stop for pictures of the Holy Trinity Monastery.  Three monks live here.  It is known for its dramatic location and for being a film location in the James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only.

Then we visited the Roussanou Monastery, dedicated to St Barbara.  Ten nuns live here.  The bus parked higher up and we hiked a 10 minute trail to get there.

This was much the same as the other one, but it had a nice garden.

Views from the balcony:

Then we climbed down again about 90 steps to reach our bus (clever bus driver!) and had lunch.  We ate with another Canadian couple we just met, Monette et Guy.  They both spoke French and Monette was really happy to speak French with Frankie.

We got back to the ship at 5:30 pm.  The bus dropped us off and they told us to get onto a shuttle.  They crammed 2 bus loads of people onto the shuttle.  The shuttle went around the building, and our ship was right there, 200 meters away.  Everyone on the shuttle started laughing.  Oh well.

Since we had finished eating at 3 pm, we were not hungry right away.  We went to the 6:30 pm talk about Greek culture which was fun.  We likely won't go to many of these talks because they are at a stupid time.

We had a very nice (LATE!!!) dinner with our friends Kathy and Kelly that we met on the pre-tour.  We are calling them honourary Canadians since they are so nice.  And they would be very happy to be Canadian LOL.

We have been warned that there is a planned demonstration tomorrow where we will be going.  It is the 3rd anniversary of the mega train collision.