Friday, January 5, 2018

Day 13 - Shuttle to airport -> Flight to Frankfurt -> Transit -> Flight to Singapore

Avra Hotel provided a shuttle at 630am to fetch us to the airport. The journey took 20mins. Aegean Airlines was on time and take off at 910am.
Light breakfast (a pie?) was provided on board. Apparently yogurt is a staple.

Transitted at Frankurt for about 2 hrs before flying off en route to Singapore on SQ as Aegean Airlines is a star alliance airline.
Lunch Menu

Meals on board - fish & Rice

Brown Rice & pork belly

Breakfast menu

Both of us took Noodles

thank God We arrived safely in Singapore in the morning after 12 hours flight.

Thursday, January 4, 2018

Day 12 - Drove to Athens -> Lunch -> Check in Avra Rafina Hotel -> Shopping at Mcarthur Glenn Designer Outlet -> Dinner at Hotel

After checkout at 11am, we made our way back to Athens airport.
Compact and clean restroom along the highway so that not too much time is wasted detouring from the highway
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Lunch was cakes bought from Kalambaka town the day before.
Tiramisu - not very good



Chocolate cake

We checked in Avra Hotel before leaving for McArthur Glenn Designer Outlet. We stayed here because of an early flight the next morning. We chose a prepaid rate of 50€ for a night with no breakfast as we needed to be at the airport by 7am. We chose this hotel as it provides complimentary shuttle to and fro from the airport. Room size is ok but a little dated. It was clean though, good enough for a night. The heater in the room was not working so we covered ourselves with the thick blanket. Shower was ok. The shower curtain was too short so it flooded the bathroom after we showered.
Two twin beds

Entrance to room


Writing desk

Bathroom. Shower was not long enough


Basin


Basic Amenities

Dated and tired corridor

Our room

Room key

Lobby


PC at lobby

Hotel exterior


Seaside

After check-in and dropped off our luggages, we went shopping at McArthur Glenn Designer Outlet. The outlet was very empty with very few shoppers. In the foreground is a shopping mall.

McArthur Glenn Designer Outlet. After shopping, we returned the rental car at the airport and took the pre-arranged hotel shuttle at 730pm back to Avra Hotel.

We were lazy to venture out for dinner as it was very windy outside so we settled our dinner at the hotel.
We ordered chicken and ham spagetti in aglio aglio seasoning - it was tasty and delicious with 10% discount! this was the cheapest meal in a restaurant for the entire trip!


Cheese

Total Bill : 16:15€

Hotel restaurant - breakfast is served here

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Day 12 - Meterora Monasteries

After breakfast, before checkout, paid another visit to the monasteries. Took a closer view at the monastries this round. All the monasteries were amazingly built on the cliffs.
Varlaam Monastery


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Roussanou Monastery taken from the foot of the cliff


Varlaam Monastery


Varlaam Monastery with Kalambaka at the base


Roussanou Monastery

Varlaam Monastery with a closer view


Grand Monastery



Varlaam Monastery


Plains of Kalambaka town at the base

Roussanou Monastery taken from a elevated height


Holy Trinity Monastery

Landscape of Meteora - Grand and Varlaam monastries at left

The 4 monasteries - from the highest - Grand Monastery, Varlaam, Rousanno and St Nicholas

holy Trintiy Monastery



Holy Trinity Monastery

Holy Trinity with Kalambaka Town at the base

Holy Trinity Monastery

St Stephen Monastery - the most accessible monastery with no steps to climb

Day 12 - Breakfast

Breakfast was simple and adequate with quite a number of choices. No complaints since it was compimentary.

Deco in breakfast room
















Breakfast Room

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Day 11 - Kalambaka Town -> Dinner at Meteora Grand Restaurant

Kalambaka Town





Dinner was at Grand Meteora Restaurant


Tables outside

Warm bread

Rice with stewed lamb

Chicken and overcooked vegetables

The stewed lamb and chicken were ok. Considered one of the cheaper meals in Greece. Total bill was 20€ after 10% discount with coupon from the meteora map.

Day 11 - Meteora Monastries

After lunch, we drove to the monastries. It was a very easy drive up the hill. First stop was to take a picture of Roussanou Monastery. Hubby loved all these monasteries that are perched mystically on top of those sandstone rock pillar with straight cliffs.


Varlaam Monastery

Saint Nicholas monastery - the smallest monastery

Roussanou Monastery

Varlaam Monastery





Varlaam monastery



Varlaam Monastery

Grand monastery on higher ground and Varlaam monastery on the lower cliff

St Nicholas Monastery

St Nicholas Monastery on the left

St Nicholas Monastery

Grand monastery on the highest cliff, followed by Varlaam, Roussanou and St Nicholas.


Holy Trinity Monastery



The cable line for the cable car was very visible


Kalambaka Town at the base


St Stephen



It was very hot up here and since we did not want to watch the sunset, we descended to Kalambaka to have dinner.

Monday, January 1, 2018

Day 11 - Breakfast -> Pick up rental car - > -> Drove to Meterora -> Check in House Alsos (Review)

Finished whatever we had for breakfast before leaving for Meterora. However, we still could not finish and kept some for lunch.

After breakfast, we walked to Sixt near Hadrian's Arch, picked up our car and at 9am, we were on our way to Meteora. We were impressed with the conditions of the highway in Greece! They were very clean and well maintained. Rest rooms were located at the shoulder of the highway so no time was wasted in slowing down the car to go into the side area away from the highway. Drove past cotton fields, lakes, up a hill and then down before we reached our destination. Total journey took about 4hrs.

Our accomodation for the night was at House Alsos. Checked in and the owner gave us an oversized room with a double bed and two single beds. We thought that the inn was empty till we saw the crowd at breakfast the next day. It had a balcony and we took our leftovers as lunch there. The balcony was facing the big vertical Rocks. Onwer preferred paymentin cash. It costed 50 euro a night including breakfast for two. There is a common kitchen for all guests to use. The hotel was quite pleasant and compact. The price cannot be beaten. The owner and family lived there and their kitchen was out of bounds for guests.

Our lunch

2 single beds and 1 double bed - comfortable enough for one night.


Balcony at the foreground


Wardrobe and fridge



Hooks at entrance to hang clothes/jackets

Basin with amenities


Bathroom

Balcony / Patio facing the rocks/cliffs


Corridor


Lamp - same as the one we had at home

Our room number 9

Entrance

Surrounding area


House Front

Outside the hotel lobby

Breakfast Room

Huge lobby with a small counter/reception


Stairways to room

Alternate route to room vis these stairways