The sky was pink over the Meteora cliffs this morning. We weren’t awake particularly early, it’s just that the sun doesn’t rise until after 7.30 here now.
Erin decided to grab her breakfast at the cafe we had eaten lunch yesterday, so we collected her there after we checked out from the hotel. The breakfast room had been busy again this morning as there is a tour group staying, Neil had to negotiate an 8 point turn to get out of the parking without hitting their bus!
We had a smooth drive back south, the skies a bit hazy today so we couldn’t see the mountains until we’d been driving a couple of hours.
We made a brief stop at the Leonidas Memorial at Thermopylae. The monument commemorates the battle in 480 B.C. when 300 Spartans led by Leonidas blocked the pass at Thermopylae up to 300,000 Persian soldiers from advancing. All but 2 of them fought to the death! He was also accompanied by 700 Thespian soldiers and they have their own monument nearby.
A short distance up the hill was a plaque on the ground that marks the exact spot that the final stand took place. This was confirmed by archeological excavation relatively recently. We were interested to see a small group of archeologists starting work on a new dig at the site.
Only 20 minutes down the road we stopped in the pretty town of Kamena Vourla. It’s a tourist town on the Malian Gulf, which owes its first tourist draw to the thermal springs in the mountain that rises above the town . There wereany cafes and restaurants lining the water and we sat in Cafe Letta for coffee and delicious Lukumades. These are doughnuts served with a honey syrup and nuts and we’re delicious!! The water was so clear and very smooth and it was pleasantly warm sitting under the shady trees.
We were all soaking up the blue sky and warmth and sunshine as both London ( where Erin is headed tonight) and Stockholm ( where we go tomorrow) are predicted to be chilly and drizzly for several days.
Another two hours took us to Athens airport Outlet Centre. We filled the car with petrol and had a quick look at the clothing because Erin thought she might need another warm top. No luck though, so we drove on to the office of “Athens Car Rental”. They took a quick look at the car and then drove us all to the Airport Sofitel, where we are staying tonight.
The funny thing was that the driver immediately opened up the roof to expose the huge sunroof that we hadn’t even known the car had!
Erin and I had a cuppa and we chilled briefly until it was time for her to go and check-in. We walked over with her and there were many hugs. We are missing her already, it has been so much fun to travel with her. She encourages us to try foods that we probably wouldn’t have ordered, and to visit interesting museums that we would probably have missed. I also like that she is an enabler for coffee and sweet treat breaks!
We went back to the hotel and had a drink in the “Pergola Bar”. Neil recently joined the paid Accor program which gave us an upgrade and free drink. Very nice!
We moved inside for dinner as it was getting chilly and enjoyed a couple of very tasty burgers for dinner. Not very Greek I guess but they did have those wonderful Greek tomatoes.
So that’s pretty much it for our first visit to Greece. What a wonderful country! Tomorrow, we head to Stockholm .