Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 2, 2007 - 04:07pm PT
|
Tarbuster, preflight to Athens Greece, with rope, rack, and no hat,
After pulling an all-night’er sewing portaledge rainflys and God only knows what else:
|
|
Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 2, 2007 - 04:10pm PT
|
It's pretty simple to get to Meteora from Athens. Jane gave me explicit instructions and she's good at this stuff, by age 19 she had traveled solo through the Orient. Between Athens and Kalambaka I just had to make one transfer.
Once on the train, I met a nice Greek fellow traveling with his wife. He was most hospitable (to me) and provided key information about the upcoming train switch. Until then he told jokes: “I have three children, two goats, a goldfish and a wife, haha.” His wife would doze off occasionally, and he would take the burning ember of his cigarette tip and place it close to the skin of the back of her hand. I didn't think it was funny, but he did, and she displayed not a sign of care, other than batting him off like a fly.
A Greek Orthodox priest walked by and my man waved him in to our berth, lit up a second smoke for the priest, handed it to the clergyman and by their tone I can say they engaged in jovial and rather pedestrian conversation. Shortly after the priest departed and when the man was done eating his brown bag dinner, he tossed his empty wrappers out through the nearest train window.
The train slowed down, and with no announcement whatsoever by the conductor or over any sort of PA system, my traveling partner insisted I leave the train and follow him across the tracks to catch the proper train to Kalambaka. He got off with his wife, I followed them, he told me where to stand, seemingly just by the side of the tracks, not at any kind of station, and they left, and I waited a bit and shortly my train came!
Once on the connecting train I met three young women; their names were Elini, Bettina, and Goodrun. (phonetic spelling). Elini was Greek, educated in Germany, along with the two German girls. Ironically, even though Elini was Greek and knew her home country well, they had missed the switch and had ridden the initial train in the wrong direction for five hours. It turns out they also were heading to Meteora to watch the sunrise from the top of the rocks and asked if I would like to join them.
Um, I said yes...
|
|
426
Sport climber
Buzzard Point, TN
|
|
Been wanting to go new school (Kalymnos)...keep em coming, cowroy
|
|
Watusi
Social climber
Newport, OR
|
|
Great tour Roy!
|
|
Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
|
|
and then what happened?
/munge says waiting expectantly with grin on his face...
|
|
stich
Trad climber
Denver, Colorado
|
|
Huzzah, a good romantic tale of watching the rising sun on a Friday night drinking at home alone!
I will share with you that I have just helped a college girl I have never met get up the nerve to text a guy she wanted to see tonight for a bit of a romp. She did as I advised using the same language I wrote and got the intended response instantly.
The internet forum is truly magical.
|
|
Jello
Social climber
No Ut
|
|
C'mon, Tarbaby, give up the rest of the story. But take your own sweet time, nonetheless.
-ExpectantJello
|
|
stich
Trad climber
Denver, Colorado
|
|
He'll finish the story. Don't you worry. Tarvision aint blurry.
|
|
yo
climber
The Eye of the Snail
|
|
hahaha yeah, what an opener!!
This thread's already a classic.
|
|
Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 2, 2007 - 11:54pm PT
|
Several hours before sunrise, in the darkness, the three young women and I departed the train at Kalambaka. Not so far along we would find Kastraki nestled amongst the towers of Meteora proper. Now, whether we walked or sought transport, I cannot say, can I be blamed? Either way our conversations carried us upward along a paved mountain road through smoky vineyards until we reached a point where the stars above became blotted out by large rectangular patches of blackness. Yes! My first impression of the towers, with their unrevealed bulks impressing such a sense of possibility upon our star punctured ceiling.
Kastraki lay asleep as we passed through the little hamlet and continued on towards the summit of Meteora itself; meandering now up the steeper road, we became aware of just a few occasional small squares of candlelight set high into the sides of the cliffs. These solitary morning sign marked the waking vigil of the cloistered monks, performing their various ablutions, incantations, and readings. Soon the rising sun illuminated on either side of our path the numerous orange Pixari blooms floating the trees.
(photo Dieter Hasse)
|
|
Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
|
|
all hot an bothered...
|
|
mack
Trad climber
vermont
|
|
Totally sweet...and then?
|
|
mack
Trad climber
vermont
|
|
I sure hope there's some climbing in the next edition.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!