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10 May 2023 - Sightseeing at Lake Ohrid
It continued raining during the night, but to my relief it was dry when we woke up. We had a leisurely start and at 10.30 started to drive 30 kilometres south along the lake to the 16th century Monastery of Sv Naum. It is virtually on the border with Albania.
The Bradt guide book says that the road is narrow and can be quite busy. I didn't think the road was particularly narrow and luckily it wasn't very busy. It took about 30 minutes to drive there and there was good car parking for Eur 0.60.
We were concerned that the monastery might be overwhelmed with tour groups, but we were relieved to see only 1 coach in the car park. The 2 chapels in the old monastery are very small and beautiful. We were pleased that for most of the time we were the only ones in the chapels.
By the time we got back to Ohrid the weather was brightening up. We could have driven to a couple of villages on the north western side of the lake, but decided to have a relaxing afternoon and walk around the very nice town of Ohrid again. See my blog Ohrid Town, North Macedonia: Travel Guide.
11 May 2023 - Ohrid to Meteora, Greece
We woke up to cloudy weather again, but since it was a travel day it didn't matter. We left at 10.30 and soon found that our sat navigation was directing us towards Albania!
It probably did that as it may be the quickest route to Greece. However, we don't have car insurance for Albania and it isn't possible to buy it at that particular border. I therefore input the name of the Greek border town and that put us on the correct route.
The cost of petrol is 37% higher in Greece than North Macedonia so we filled up just before the Greek border and also used all our left over North Macedonian currency. It only took us about 10 minutes to cross the border.
Both the Greek passport officer and the customs officer were very friendly. Our UK car insurance covers us for Greece so we didn't have the hassle and cost of buying car insurance at the border.
As we got closer to Meteora it began to rain. Google maps as usual was very good at finding our apartment, although it didn't help that we had been told the wrong street number. We arrived at 16.40 and we had lost an hour due to Greece being in a different time zone.
The apartment was compact but nice. We bought some groceries at Lidl's and had our evening meal at the apartment. See my blog "UK to Greek Islands Accommodation - Part 1" for further details of the apartment.
12 May 2023 - Sighteeing at Meteora, Greece
Meteora is famous for its medieval monasteries that are perched on high pinnacles of rock. See my blog "The Monasteries of Meteora: Travel Guide" for useful information about visiting Meteora.
Unfortunately none of the 6 monasteries at Meteora open before 09.00 and they all close by 17.00. We woke up earlier today as my plan was to start visiting Meteora's monasteries early in order to avoid the tour groups for an hour or so.
We left our apartment at 08.25 and it was a 20 minute drive to the first monastery of Agios Stefanos (St Stephen's). We got stuck behind a tour bus and as we drove up we could see several other tour buses ready to depart for the monasteries. It seemed that my plan wasn't going to work!
We managed to get to the entrance gate before the tour group. When it opened at 09.00 we were the first people at the ticket office and then we immediately walked to the small chapel. We had the chapel to ourselves for 5 to 10 minutes before the tour group arrived and broke the tranquility.
Tour groups take over sites and have little consideration for others. Luckily we had seen enough of the chapel and looked around outside. More and more groups came and soon there was a long queue to enter the chapel. By the time we returned to the car park there were 13 tour buses parked there!
After visiting Agios Stefanos we drove to the nearby monastery of Agia Triada (Holy Trinity). Agia Triada is famous for being a film location in the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only. It is certainly in a very spectacular location. Luckily it isn't frequented by many tour groups.
We parked at about 09.50 and there was only 1 tour bus parked there. It was about a 10 minute walk from the car park to the ticket office and we could see a small queue of people waiting to enter, as this monastery only opens at 10.00.
The queue had dissipated by the time we got to the ticket office. We looked around the exterior until the tour group had left the chapel so we could enjoy the chapel in relative peace.
At 11.00 we drove back to our apartment for an early lunch. We intended to visit the Monastery of Great Meteoron next. My plan was to visit it at about 12.30 when hopefully the tour groups were having lunch and the half day tours had been completed.
As we drove from our apartment to the Great Meteoron we could see a lot of tour buses parked outside restaurants. At the monastery itself there were only 2 tour buses but a lot of cars. It takes about 10 minutes to walk to the entrance and we were pleased to see a large group of school children leaving the monastery.
The Great Meteoron is the largest monastery at Meteora and probably the most popular. We spent an hour looking around and our visit wasn't spoiled by too many visitors.
Our final monastery visit for today was the small nunnery of Roussanou. Parking was easy to find and it was a 10 minute walk down to it. The chapels at the Meteora monasteries are small and this was no exception.
Before driving back to our apartment we drove to a couple of view points so that we could admire the dramatic scenery of Meteora.
13 May 2023 - Sighteeing at Meteora, Greece
We had 2 more monasteries to visit today. We went to the Agios Nikolaus (St Nicholas) monastery first and reached the steps leading up to the monastery 10 minutes after it had opened.
We were pleased to see that there were very few cars parked there and even happier that there weren't any tour buses! Apparently Agios Nikolaos isn't usually visited by tour groups due to the steep climb up to it.
It is certainly a steep climb up and it took us about 10 minutes. We went straight to the 2 room chapel and spent about 15 minutes enjoying the beauty of the chapel in relative tranquility.
Independent visitors are usually quiet and don't spend too much time in the chapels. In comparison tour groups take over the entire area whilst the tour leader explains the paintings at great length.
At Agios Nikolaos visitors only have access to the chapel and roof top. There are really good views of Meteora's impressive scenery from the roof top.
After visiting Agios Nikolaos we drove to the view points that we had visited yesterday. Apart from the dramatic scenery there are very good views of the monasteries. A lot of visitors come here at sunset, but yesterday it was cloudy and this evening there is meant to be a nice sunset.
At 11.15 we returned to our apartment for an early lunch like we had yesterday. The plan was to visit Varlaam Monastery when the tour groups were having their lunch. We got to Varlaam monastery at 12.30 and although it was busy there were very few tour buses parked there.
It took about 10 minutes to climb up to the ticket office and we had to queue for about 5 minutes to buy our tickets. Unfortunately we had a group in front of us and some of the women had to buy wraps as they weren't wearing dresses.
We got to the chapel before the group and could enjoy it before they arrived. When the group took over the chapel we decided to stay and benefit from the tour leader's commentary!
We left at 13.30 and by then groups were streaming in and it was like a zoo. I much preferred the 4 smaller monasteries to the 2 largest and most popular monasteries at Meteora.
14 May 2023 - Meteora to Delphi, Greece
We woke up to grey skies and light rain. At 09.45 we started driving from Meteora to Arachova and Google maps showed that the journey should take 3 hours 10 minutes. Arachova is 10 kilometres from Delphi and is a nicer town to stay in.
The weather improved as we drove south and after a couple of hours it was sunny and 22 centigrade. About an hour before Arachova we were stopped by a policeman as we were entering a town. We feared the worst, but he just wanted to inform us that we should take a new and better route.
Neither Google maps nor our Tomtom sat navigation liked this change of route and directed us back into the town on another road. This time 2 policemen stopped us and told us that we should continue on the new road as it was better. In reality there must have been something happening in the town and they didn't want us to enter.
The new road was in a very good condition and it went over the mountains. It was very scenic and we could see snow on the distant mountain. However, it was certainly longer than our original route and we only arrived at Arachova at 13.50.
I had booked an apartment and a reviewer had reported that the streets around the apartment were narrow and difficult to park on. He was unfortunately right! We checked in and very soon afterwards drove to the archaeological site at Delphi. See my blog "Delphi, Greece: Travel Guide" for useful information about visiting Delphi.
By the time we reached Delphi at 14.45 the number of visitors had greatly subsided and virtually all the tour buses had left. As a result we found a very convenient parking spot, which would have been very difficult to find earlier in the day.
We visited the museum first and wandered around it for 45 minutes. They had some nice displays, but a lot of the narrative was complex and difficult to understand. The most famous exhibit is the bronze Charioteer that dates back to the fifth century BC.
Afterwards we walked around the archaeological site which is on a steep hill. It was a bit underwhelming to begin with but became more interesting as we went on. It was quiet and peaceful as there were very few visitors and no groups. It was also hot and I wouldn't want to visit Delphi in the summer.
We spent 3 hours at Delphi and then returned to Arachova for dinner. We walked around the nice town in the evening.
15 May 2023 - Delphi to Nafplio, Greece
We had a relaxing morning in Delphi and only left for Nafplio at 11.30. The drive was very scenic through mountainous countryside.
We easily managed to locate the apartment we had booked and were very pleased with it. It is very spacious with 2 floors, 2 bathrooms and 2 balconies for about Eur 78 per night. See my blog "UK to Greek Islands Accommodation - Part 1" for further details of the apartment.
In the early evening we walked into Nafplio and wandered around. It is fairly upmarket and is popular with well off Athenians as it is less than a 2 hour drive from Athens. See my blog "Nafplio, Greece: Travel Guide" for useful information on visiting Nafplio.
There are 3 fortresses in Nafplio and we wandered up the Akronafplia fortress, which is the closest to the town. It is derelict but there are good views from the top and it is free!
16 May 2023 - Day Trip from Nafplio to Corinth
We could have stopped at Corinth yesterday on our way to Nafplio, but I was worried about the security for our luggage in our car. In hindsight we should have stopped and it would have saved a 1.5 hour round trip drive to Corinth today. See my blog "Corinth, Greece: Travel Guide" for information on visiting Corinth.
We set off at 10.15 to visit Acrocorinth which is the ancient acropolis of Corinth. Its fortifications and ruins were erected by the Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, crusaders, Venetians and Turks.
We were pleased to find on arrival that entry was free and there were no tour buses. The old, worn stones on the path are very slippery at the start and we were pleased that it was dry, as in the wet they must be treacherous.
We spent an hour and 45 minutes exploring the large site. The double wall fortifications are the most impressive feature of the site. We were lucky to finish just before it started to lightly rain.
We had driven over the Corinth canal many years ago but hadn't stopped. In those days the main road from Athens to the Pelopennese had a good view of the canal. When we drove over the Corinth canal yesterday it was on the new toll road and we didn't see the canal at all.
We therefore went back to the bridge that we drove over a long time ago. We parked the car at the southern end of the bridge and walked over both sides of it. Unfortunately no ships were in the Corinth canal and the weather was a bit dismal.
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