To Metsovo and Beyond....

Pete, Sandra & Alison at halfway brew up time.

 Firstly let me apologise for the many Photos this week but selection was a problem.

Saturday night we went out for a meal with Deb & Jez at the village taverna in Agios Petros.  We waited for them at the end of their road and had been assured the Debbie would not be late so fifteen minutes after the appointed time, Sandra rang them only to find they were currently preparing tea!  They agreed to put this on hold and after a mad dash met us at the restaurant.  In the meantime we had checked the text messages only to find out that they had not been late, we had been twenty four hours early.  Doooohhhhh.

Inside Katoghi winery.

Yogi and Booboo in Metsovo.

 Monday morning we set off on our much awaited "holiday" to Metsovo with Alison and Peter from the Katoghi restaurant at Vafkeri.  I think the seven thirty pickup may have been slightly left of field for them as they looked somewhat bleary eyed when we arrived.




Anyway, we had a good trip up there complete with mandatory pit stop for a brew up.  First time off the island for about two years for Pete so it was a voyage of discovery for him.  The first thing after getting settled into the hotel was to pay a visit to the Katoghi winery, this had been a arranged by Pete and Alison via email but unfortunately we couldn't have a tour as they were cleaning the vats so had to settle for the shop were of course we had to be relieved of some money for take aways.

Our "tardis" shower in the hotel.

And of course our wood fire in the room.

Some pals we met near Meteora.

The weather was pleasantly mild when we arrived in Metsovo but there was evidence of the heavy snow which had preceded us and at least it meant that walking around was not a tricky thing to be doing.  Our room in the hotel was fantastic with a shower to die for with jets from every direction and a built in sauna.  Alison and Peter had a jacuzzi bath in theirs.  For the people who live out here and read this and may want a couple of days in the area it's called the Archontiko Metsovo Boutique and a room is €65 a night with breakfast.  Four poster bed included!

Everyone should have a water feature.

The perfect hobbit homeland.

Wiley Coyote and Road Runner could be around the corner.

One of the many monasteries at Meteora. 

You almost can't help thinking spaghetti westerns. 

 Tuesday looked like being pretty dull and overcast so we decided to take a trip to Meteora which is only a leisurely drive away and it's really fantastic.  The photos don't do it justice at all but the landscape is like a cross between Clint Eastward western country and Lord of the Rings set there are several monasteries precariously

perched on the tops of several of the rock formations which are open to visitors, you really need to get there fairly early if you are to visit them though as it does involve quite a lot of up hill walking, we will be better prepared the next time we visit.

Frozen Waterfalls.

And faster running ones.

 In the village there is a water feature as the photo shows I think someone must put some blue dye into the water though as it just doesn't quite look natural.

We had quite a good meal the first night in Metsovo but not quite so good the second night we perhaps should have tried to get a little further from the town square.  We were very surprised by how quite it was after ten o'clock it's almost as though the Greeks there eat at a different time to all other

Greeks, everywhere seemed almost deserted.  The local wine is excellent although as everywhere else in Greece I'm sure that it'll be variable.

The snow came down before we left. 

Tuesday night felt much colder and sure enough when Sandra and I awoke on Wednesday morning there was snow on the ground and we stood on the balcony as the snowplough was doing it's rounds of the town keeping things moving.  As we were leaving the snow started coming down much heavier and we actually left town heading towards the motorway in convoy with not one but three snow ploughs.  Halfway back to Ioannina we ran out of the snow and into the rain.  This wasn't enough to prevent a visit to IKEA on route though so it was cheap lunch to finish our holidays.

We took the scenic route back from Ioaninna to Preveza across the mountains to via our old stomping ground at Assos, unfortunately the best of the views was obstructed as we were in the clouds at the time, but Pete didn't let that stop him clicking away with his camera - hey ho.