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Delphi
& Meteora - 2 DAYS TOUR .... from 120.00 euro p.p.
One of the most popular tours. Every year, more than 1,000,000 people visit the Meteora.
There isn't a dull moment visiting these two memorable UNESCO sites.
From April to October - this tour is organized on
Mondays/Wednesdays/Thursdays and selected
Saturdays.
From November to March - the tour is
organized ONLY on Wednesdays.
Single/double or triple bedroom accommodation in
3 & 4 star hotel, with dinner & breakfast, and
For couples travelling with one child under
12, the child travels free of charge, in 4 star hotels.
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DAY 1: 08.45am, depart from Athens,
taking a 3 hrs scenic drive via the rural towns of
THEBES (town of the legendary Oedipus), LEVADIA (short
stop) and ARACHOVA, to arrive in DELPHI, the site that we call "one of the
"Temple-Banks" of Greece, situated on a mountain terrace, and considered as
"the centre of the universe" at 11.30am.
Here, with the tour guide
you will explore the
legendary site of the Oracle and the sanctuary of god
Apollo.
(N.B.
The tour allows you enough time to visit the ancient site ONLY.
However,
this is where we get involved and
by paying 7.00 euro extra you can visit and spend one hour
in the Delphi archaeological museum.
Are you interested? We can organize it.)
13.30
The group will proceed for lunch, and at +/- 14.45 will depart via AMPHISSA, LAMIA and TRIKALA
for Kalampaka, the town situated below the Meteora.
(Between 13.15 and 14.15 you may visit the Delphi museum and with our taxi reconnect with the group at the restaurant).
Arrival in Kalampaka at +/- 19.00. Dinner & Overnight.
(An
optional but very popular sunrise photo trip: Wake up
early in the morning and try to capture a
"unique" sunrise. Our taxi driver will pick you
up for a SUNRISE trip over the impressive
hill-top monasteries. The cost is 20.00 euro per hour, shared between
the passengers of the taxi).
DAY 2: 09.00 am. After breakfast drive to the METEORA, and
visit two of the monasteries, open on the day of your visit.
After lunch the drive back to Athens starts, and on the way, we stop at THERMOPYLAE, the
area where the famous battle between the Spartan King
Leonidas and his 300 Spartan soldiers against the huge Persian
army of Xerxes 480 B.C. took place. The monument to
Leonidas and the 300 cypress trees reminds us of the
sacrifice of the heroic Spartans. The words "Molon
Lave" translated as "come and get them" is
written at the base of the statue. This was Leonidas's
answer when Xerxes asked him to surrender his weapons.
After the battle, opposite the memorial, a stone plaque
was placed: "Stranger, tell the Spartans that we lay
here obedient to the laws of Sparta".
Arrive in Athens at +/- 19.00 and be dropped off either at the
terminal or at your hotel.
END of a memorable tour!! However, remember to come back in the future. The area has plenty more to show to you.
When you first visit it, you don't expect such a beauty. The second time you follow
the paths, explore it, and get a strange, sensational feeling.
*
April - Oct: Choose the Wednesday departure, pay 49.00 euro per
person, stay 1 extra day in a 3 star hotel in Kalambaka,
and visit the monasteries on your own, or, take the morning or
afternoon tour organized by our local office.
** Nov - March: Pay 75.00 euro per person, stay 1 extra
day in a 4 star hotel in Kalambaka, visit the monasteries on your
own, or,
take the morning or afternoon tour organized by our local office,
and return on Friday's afternoon train at 17.32.
HISTORY
OF THE METEORA ROCKS
METEORA, the "art of
Nature" is a rocky forest, designated by UNESCO as a
World Heritage Site. In 1995 the Hellenic government
declared it a " sacred area", belonging to all
and protected from any change or interference. The huge
rocks were formed millions of years ago, from a mixture
of sand, stones, pebbles and hard gravel, when the three rivers
that came to the lake, brought all kinds of raw materials. The petrified
pillars of METEORA are extraordinary, with horizontal
stripes and strange shapes, reaching 600 m tall. What
makes them even more remarkable are the exquisite
monasteries, built by hermits during the 9th c. AD, at
the pinnacles of the rocks. For centuries these towers of
sandstone provided cliff-top retreat for the monks.
Sit at the edge of one
of these massive rocks, and let your mind
travel millions of years back, when the big lake
covered the whole valley. As a result of a very strong earthquake,
the water went into the Aegean Sea, and the lake
dried out, recovering all this natural beauty that you
see in front of you today. This
is the most probable explanation of how all these rocks
were formed. You
will confront a geological phenomenon which is
universally unique, where words like,
"admire,
unexplainable, impressive" that
are said in many writings describe its size, only to a
point.
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