Category: Interesting sights

Aveiro

Aveiro railway station

We finally arrived in Aveiro which has become a beautiful city. The frontage of the old railway station is covered in azulejos, the blue and white ceramic tiles on the outside of buildings telling stories

Along the canal are the brightly painted moliceiro boats which used to transport seaweed but now take tourists on trips.

The salinas produce the flôr de sal sold in the shops and the restaurants serve delicious fresh fish and seafood along the waterways all go to make Aveiro know as Little Venice.

  • Wall of sardine tins
  • Shop entrance
  • By the canal

And then of course being with all the family.

Playing Rummikub with cousins

CamperStop

There is now a fantastic new Camperstop behind the railway station in the carpark. There are 20 good size pitches and all the facilities you need except electric. The area is planted with shrubs and flowers and also has seats and some tables. A supermarket is just 5 minutes away.

Camperstop
Camperstop

Perama Cave

The Perama cave is 2 km from Ioannina and if you are in the area it is well worth a visit. The cave was discovered in 1940 when the villagers were taking shelter from the bombing during WWII. After the war it was properly explored by Ioannis and Anna Petrochilou (cave experts) and found to extend for 5km.

It is stunning!

We were glad that we’d taken long sleeve shirts with us as it was 34C outside but only 18C inside – a temperature which remains constant throughout the year.

Ioannina bougátsa

Ioannina is the home of bougátsa and it’s absolutely delicious!! There is a little cafe called ‘Select’ whose decor hasn’t changed since the 70s. It only sells bougátsa which are made in the kitchen at the back of the shop by the owner whose picture is below. It’s served warm straight from the oven. There are two types savoury and sweet – no prizes for guessing which one we had.

The guide book calls it a kind of custard tart but this nowhere near describes it!

Metsovo

Metsovo

Metsovo FolkLore Museum

We arrived in Metsovo just as the rain started to fall so we repaired to a nearby restaurant for a delicious bean soup. Unfortunately by the time we finished our meal the heavens had opened completely. Undaunted, we continued uphill and found this wonderful museum. It was definitely worth getting wet for.

Metsovo is a beautiful town in the Pindos mountains and is often called ‘The Jewel of Epirus’. It is a Vlach town, a people who are historically nomadic shepherds who’ve lived in the region for generations and whose origins are from neighbouring Balkan countries.

With a population of shepherds it is only natural that Metsovo would have a culture of weaving. The textiles are utilitarian and are used as household furnishings, blankets, carpets, cushions, all heavily decorated in colorful designs that have spiritual and cultural significance. Other products of the village include the colorful embroidered traditional costumes, including the flokata, a black sleeveless coat or vest with a red band that identified the people from Metsovo during the Ottoman period.

We had our own individual tour round the old house in which the museum is situated. It was owned by a Swiss banker Tositsa who’s family came from the town. The guide told us that the winters were so harsh that the family had to spend seven months of the year inside the house and so had to store enough food to last them throughout the winter.

Here is a link to the Folklore Museum where you can see photographs www.metsovomuseum.gr

Meteora

The monasteries of Meteora are an amazing sight. There are now six monasteries which are still inhabited. We visited two, the Great Meteora built in 1382 and the Varlaam built in 1517. We set off early in the morning and walked there up a stone path accompanied by a local dog who decided to act as our guide. Once the monastery opened at 9am we then had to ascend a further 300 steps to the main door. Until the road was built the monks reached the monastery by clambering into a net attached to a pulley and were winched up. This was powered by other monks manually turning the wheel (see pictures below).

The churches inside the monasteries were extremely beautiful, the walls and ceilings being completely covered in frescos.

Some of the rooms that could be visited included the old cellars and kitchens.

The monasteries had little museums and these photos come from them. The last is a poster from WWII when the Greeks were fighting off the Italian invasion.

The monasteries are a major tourist attraction and throughout the day coaches arrive with day trippers from all over the world.

Thessaloniki

Sculptures

Every street you walk down has sculptures and in beautiful locations – by the sea, in squares etc. The first below is the memorial to the Jewish Greeks, the three following relate to Alexandra the Great, the fifth had no plaque but is very powerful and the last ‘Umbrellas’ was placed in 1997 when the city was the European Capital of Culture. I found an App called ‘Strolling around Thessaloniki’ which details many of the sculptures and other sights in the city.

Museum of Archeology

The Archeology museum had some very interesting collections. The photographs below come from ‘The Gold of Macedon’ tracing the use of gold through the ages, most of the artefacts coming from tombs.

Folk Art and Ethnological Museum

This museum is housed in a beautiful old building known as Villa Modiano built in 1906 by the architect Eli Modiano for the banker Jacob Modiano and which survived the great fire of 1917. The collections consist of woven textiles, embroidery, tools etc, plus replicas of the equipment and wooden machinery used in mills to grind flour, pound wool (fulling) and even saw planks of wood.

Street scenes

We spent several delightful hours wandering around the market and bazaar area in the city, it was a vibrant area with whole areas dedicated to particular products as in India.

Artist Theofilos

Went to a little museum in Anakasias just north of Velos in the Pelion to see the work of Theofilos. He was born in 1870 and scraped a living by painting on the walls of houses and shops. He was a ‘naive’ artist painting folk scenes combining myths with ordinary events. Many of his paintings involve the 1821 War of Independence.

The house in the village was owned by Yannis Kontos and Theofilos decorated the upper wing. The paintings are wonderful and if you’re in the Pelion definitely worth a visit. Here are some photos of the house and one of Theofilos in the tradition dress which he used to wear. It was not possible to take any photos of the paintings themselves but you can see them on Pinterest

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/jabou19/folk-painter-theofilos/

Mycenae

Revisted Mycenae after having read Pat Barker’s Silence of the Girls. Felt we now knew more about Agememnon and the site would be more meaningful. It’s an amazing place and I get a real sense of the past from being there. The beehive tombs are extraordinary pieces of architecture and it must have been so exciting to have discovered them.

  • Lion gate
  • Lion Gate Mycenae
  • Grave circle
  • Grave circle
  • Back gate to the citadel
  • Entrance to the beehive tomb of Agamemnon’s wife Clytemnestra
  • Ceiling of beehive tomb of Clytemnestra

The museum contains some good examples of pottery 3000 years old with descriptions of history of the period.

And lastly, we stayed overnight at a camperstop by a cafe just down the road from the site. Very friendly guy running the place. It would have been better if we’d spent less time on breakfast and got to the site earlier, but what a fabulous location

  • Eggs and avo on toast