Greece, since 1981, is member of the European Union and, together with 18 other EU member states a monetary union, the euro zone. It is a member of the United Nations, the OECD, NATO, the OSCE and the Council of Europe. The Human Development Index ranks Greece among the highly developed countries.
The Greeks of modern times call themselves Hellenes, but they had many different names throughout history. However, Homer (8th century BC) did not use the term "Hellene" in his epics. In classical antiquity, the Greeks hardly lay a point to present ithemselfves as a unified nation. The own home instead, be it a polis or a kingdom, was up to a few exceptions far more important. The participants in the Olympic Games were summarized as Hellenes. Perhaps it was this name later, in the first centuries of Christianity, being used as synonymous with paganism. From late antiquity until the end of the Middle Ages (1453), the Greeks even called themselves Rhomaioi (ancient Greek for, Romans').
Once again on the way in the direction of Meteora, we choose the highway 15, which branches off from the highway at Grevena in the direction of Kalambaka and crosses the Venetikos River on an old metal bridge construction.
On the Pelion you will find more than 40 mountain villages and small coastal towns, some of them look back to a long lasting history and some can hardly be seen today in dense forests.
As one of the attractions in the region around Volos, there is so-called Pilion railway, which with a track width of only 600 mm belongs to the really attractive Narrow Gauge Railway, and because of that certainly is more like a model railway in big seize. But more about that later.
A visit to the city and port of Volos lead us along the promenade at the harbor to the Argonaut monument and through the pedestrian zone of Volos later on and as expected already, it was quite relaxed.
Kato Gatzea is a small fishing village on the west side of the Pelion Peninsula, surrounded by immense large olive groves and surrounded by the foothills of the Pelion Mountains.
After our arrival in Kastraki was still time for a small tour into the village, where we admired the blossoms of wild flowers but also in some of the gardens.
Hiking is a wonderful activity in the nature, is relaxing and exciting at the same time, not only when the area is like Meteora and, in addition to medieval monasteries, also offering magnificent rock landscapes.
We were again on the way to Meteora, because a national, Greek Climbing Festival will take place on the mountain pillars and at Camping Vrachos on the next weekend that had caught our attention.
Our tours through the countryside at Meteora had led us into Kastraki / Kalambaka city center too and, as a small town with no fewer than 8,330 inhabitants, is now interesting to tourists due to a variety of restaurants, cafes, shopping abilities and strolling too.
During our first passage through the formations of the Meteora rocks, we already noticed the numerous caves in the rocks, some of which were shared by the monks for a more independent living or due to confiscation.
The first impressions of our visit to the Metéora Monasteries we had already put online in our blog, now more information about this unique landscape with its medieval monastic buildings will follow.
In Greek mythology, in addition to Mount Olympus, the Pindos is known as the residence of the gods, here as one of the places where the Muses are said to have gathered around Apollo.