Were the Monk's Secretly South African?

It really is getting very difficult to determine where you are. Time is going fast and my fatigue is building. Keep hearing Peter Allan montages in my mind but then again that often happens at home but he has less sequins.

Today, we left Sofia to travel along the River Struma into Greece. The border crossing was pretty good but it was a 7.15 am start from the Hotel. The greeks are not stupid. There was no foreign exhange to alter my Bulgarian money into something useful like Euros. Perhaps it will be my tip for the tour guide?

In any event, we drove through some magnificent country today to reack Kalambaka in Greece. Of course, there is only one thing to do in Kalambaka which is go to view the six remaining monastries at Meteroa. The tour did not include the trip to the monastries funnily enough. Hmmm, lets squeeze the lemon some more. Nonetheless it was not overly dear to go.

It was fantastic. Monastries on top of huge pillars of rock soaring into the sky. One is amazed at how it was done even now let alone with no roads and only goat tracks. One of the greek kings was so moved by the monks simple life that he abandoned his throne and went to remain their before eventually becoming the chief Abbott. I use Abbott due to my extensive knowledge of the greek orthodox faith.

We went into one of the monastries and as always I was struck by the difficulty for spiritual people when their monastries become tourist haunts. It was odd purchasing a tourist book from a young greek orthodox nun who had just come out to bang a wooden thing to show how the Alarm Clock works.

Dinner was at the hotel and it was fabulous. The hotel really knew how to squeeze you. 18 euro for a 4 euro bottle of greek rose and 4 euro for a coke. There is a perverse pleasure in walking down the road and bringing in your 1.50 euro bottle of coca cola.

It is definitely worth seeing and I don't understand how Roger Moore climbed the Monastries as he was a wuss compared to Sean Connery. I suggest you guys Google for pictures as it is fantastic. Alternatively, hire "for your eyes only' which is possibly Roger Moore's best James Bond although Octopussy sounded ruder.

Tomorrow, Delphi then Athens.

PS: The south african rock climbing reference is for Gavin.