Kalambaka, Greece

Wednesday morning we drove south west towards Mt Olympus. We stopped in this tiny town named Vergina and it was amazing to watch our bus driver Kosta maneuver this brand new, very long bus into the tiniest parking spots. Well, they weren’t really parking spots, more like a spot on the sidewalk. People do tend to park wherever here, even partially blocking the road. It doesn’t seem to bother other drivers, they just go around. The Greeks have a term for this laid-back lifestyle : halara, meaning ‘take it easy’. This country has reminded me of New Bern in that aspect.

Listen, there is a lot of history here, as you can imagine. So I’m not going to bore you with dates and names I can’t pronounce much less spell. But I will share stories we learned along the way. We visited the tomb of King Phillip. Apparently Philip had a bit of an ego and was very dramatic. He invited many important people and other royal families to Vergina for a “show” at his theater. After making his guests wait 3 hours in the hot summer sun, he unveiled 13 statues. Twelve were of the Greek gods and goddesses. The last one was of him. The people (who most likely suffered from sun stroke) were so upset at Philip for equalizing himself with a Greek god, that they killed him. This was when his son, Alexander the Great became king at the young age of 20.

The wildflowers are all in bloom and they are beautiful. The poppies are my favorite.

The small town of Kalambaka is very charming. Lots of shopping and restaurants and some of the best ice cream we’ve had. The town sits at the base of these huge rock mountains that jut out of the earth.

Thursday we went on a tour and learned about mushrooms and truffles at the local Natural History Museum before we went truffle hunting in the forest. I thought we were going to get little shovels and dig for them ourselves, but instead we watched the cutest, most hyper little dog sniff and dig them out. He dashed through the forest from spot to spot, there was no logic or pattern. It was funny. His handler and family then prepared a mushroom and pasta lunch for us out in the forest. The mushrooms were delicious.

We toured a really pretty winery in the afternoon, tasting yummy local wine. We may have left with a few bottles of our own.

This evening we are going to ride to the top of the mountains and see the monasteries. The views will be amazing. We will go inside them tomorrow morning before leaving town and heading to our next destination.

Photo Album

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