Gap Year Adventures: Kalampaka/Meteora and Veria

The town of Kalampaka, is situated below the magnificent, eternal rocks of Meteora. Although it is unknown when Metéora was established, as early as the 11th century AD hermit monks were believed to be living among the caves and cutouts in the rocks. By the late 11th or early 12th century a rudimentary monastic state had formed and was centered
around the church of Theotokos (mother of God), which still stands today. Arriving late in the evening, I along with the rest of my group had no idea that we were surrounded by these amazing rock formations. So, when we exited our hotel and saw all this natural beauty around us we were very please and surprised! Below are the pictures on our bus ride to the monastery as well as the monastery itself.

On a lovely thanksgiving day we left Kalampaka and Meteora and the ancient monasteries for a walking tour of the old Jewish district of Barbuta. Many of the houses there have only recently been restored thanks to a special
program of the Municipality of Veria supported by several Jewish organizations
from abroad. We visited the recently restored Synagogue where Saint Paul of
Tarsus preached Christianity in 50 C.E. Before this however, we were surprised with a special thanksgiving lunch in a little Greek Restaurant. Now, you may be asking yourself how is it possible to have a thanksgiving dinner in Greece? Well actually it was just a usual Grecian meal with paper turkey plates and thanksgiving decorations brought from America. But nonetheless, it was nice that even though we were all so far from home that we could have a little thanksgiving spirit.