RollingRocco

Pindo National Park We've spent the last few days in Kipoi , the characteristic mountain village in Pindo National Park ( North of Greece, close to Albanian border).  The weather is not so great so we've only managed to have a lovely trekking yesterday.  The Stone bridges trail is an easy 10 km trail that passes XVIII hundred  bridges connecting the mountain villages of Zachoria region.  At some point walking along the river bed we've actually felt like at home in Val Trebbia. We've also spotted this little fellow on the way. Franco tried to find mushrooms but no luck. Now focused on learning few basic words in Albanian as we will cross the border soon.

Meteora from greek suspended in the air. There are 6 meteora left ( 24 initially)- Greek monasteries perched on the top of the rocky cliffs. You cannot not go to see them!  The breathtaking scenery crashes you with it's beauty! Makes you contemplate human persistence and greatness of the nature. Mystical is only one of the words. Obviously everyone wants to see them so there was a lot of tourists. The entrance fee to each monastery is 3€. We visited the oldest one The Great Meteoron.It is worth to read the whole history about it online, so do it!! From there we wanted to find a peaceful place for the night so we climbed to Techniti Limbo Aoou artificial lake situated on 1400m height plateau, surrounded by frosty hills. We weren't ready for the freezing temperatures though!! It was 5 degrees during the night!Now that's a drastic change to Crete and it's 28C. It's time for a winter pyjama again🤣

A bit shattered from sleeping on the bar sofa during the night but hey at least it wasn't the floor. Our ferry journey went well,the sea was calm.We arrived at Athens at 6.30 am and drove 200 km to our next destination. And it was so worth it!!! Look at yourself!! We're at Termopili where Spartan king Leonida  and his 300 soldiers defended the pass for 3 days to than being killed by the enemy, only because they were betrayed. As much as we love the history we're not here for that, we're here for thermal baths!🙂 And what a thermal baths!!! They free of charge, water temperature is 40°C and flows trough countless natural pools! Cannot recommend it enough. Now a little nap and another bath in the evening under the stars!!!

This was our last week on Crete. Tomorrow we're taking the ferry back to Piraeus( the port close to Athens) and from there we will continue our journey to the north of Greece. We were decided to go and see two of the most known and beautiful beaches of Crete: Elafonisos and Balos. However, we arrived at Elafonisos and straight away you could see this massive paid parking spots.So the vibe you get is the place for mass tourism.Because it was early and a windy there weren't many people around. We were on our way to the beach ( it's 15 min walk from the parking) but we stopped at the panoramic view point and......that was it for us. Decided that surely it's a beautiful place but it's not for us. On our trip we have seen so many spectacular beaches that this one was just to touristy for us. With Balos you have to pay the road fare to get there and then the parking spot. So unfortunately you have to Google them and see how breathtaking the nature can be! Instead we sta...