Kalambaka

Kalambaka is in Central Greece. It is nestled in amongst giant rocks that jut straight up into the sky (trying to be creative and descriptive with my writing here. Don't make fun of me--I'm starving). A long time ago, some religious dudes looked at the rocks, looked at each other, and decided that on top of the rocks would be an excellent place to build a bunch of monasteries (ok, it didn't exactly start like that. It started with a bunch of hermits curled up in the little pod-like indentations in the rocks. But I'm going for creative license here, you know). Anyway, the end result is a bunch of monasteries on rocks (and bus loads of tourists).

Me in my monk skirt--ain't I cute? (I had to wear a skirt to visit the monasteries).

The monastery that, according to the Dutch couple I met up with, featured rather prominently in a James Bond film.


Another monastery. I didn't go into the one. Unlike every other tourist there, I did the whole tour on foot. That meant that, from about 10am to 7pm, I was walking. It was hot and dusty--with lots of stairs (as you can imagine, given that each monastery had its own giant rock).