Day 12: From Athens to Kalampaka
Moving further north to visit Meteora near Kalampaka
GREECE 2025
9/28/20253 min read
Departure from Athens on the Sunday morning
Departure from Athens was very quick, partly due to the light traffic on Sunday morning and partly because our apartment was close to the Athens ring road. The weather in Athens was partly cloudy, but the forecast for the rest of the trip was clouds and some rain.
After about an hour, it started to drizzle, so we stopped at a gas station, refueled, and put on our rain gear.
Central and Northern Greece
Rain accompanied us intermittently throughout the rest of today's journey. The countryside is typically Greek, with hills and mountains separated by valleys and plains.
There is a lot of agricultural land on the plains, and I was told that about 40% of Greek farm produce comes from this area. Supposedly, they grow everything except silk. We have seen trucks transporting cotton. Grain fields are common, as are olive groves.
The trip counter shows exactly 3300 kilometers.
Arrival in Kalampaka (Kalabaka)
We arrived in Kalampaka in the afternoon. It was raining when we arrived. Kalampaka is a small town beneath the impressive Meteora rock formations. September is peak season, so there were many tourists from all over the world.
We arrived at the hotel, unpacked, and went to one of the traditional Greek restaurants for dinner. The waiter asked where we were from, and when we told him we were from Slovenia, he said, "Kako si? Dobro?" Later, when we received our food, he said, "Dober tek!".
The weather forecast for the next day was cloudy with no rain. I hoped there would be no low clouds over the Meteora rocks, like they were today.
Significant change to our trip plan
We had been on the road for two weeks. Originally, we planned a three-week trip. We wanted to travel from Kalabaka to Monodendri and Mikro Papigko, then continue to Ohrid and Skopje in North Macedonia. From Macedonia, we planned to go to Pirot in Serbia, and from there to Županja and Vinkovci in Croatia. In Skopje and Pirot, we wanted to visit some friends, and in Croatia, some relatives.
However, the weather forecast looked bad for North Macedonia, Serbia, and Croatia, with rain and very cold temperatures expected. We decided to return by ferry from Igoumenitsa to Venice. I made a reservation, but no cabins were available on the ferry. That meant we would have to sleep on the floor. There was no better alternative, so we took what we could get.
