Meteora

Onwards to Meteora, Greece! This place was pretty amazing. There were 6 Eastern Orthodox monasteries built on these high rocks. Originally it was done to stay out of the way of Turkish raiders, and there were more than six, but that's all that are left now.

The view of the rocks driving into town.

Probably the biggest sanity-saver of the whole trip: our hotel was right next to a park. Oh, paradise! The kids loved it. Ha! The merry-go-round was insane. Or rather, the kids were insane on it. Everyone except Liam pretty much got run over by it at least 3 times I'm sure. I'm surprised Colin wasn't permanently dirt-stained. Also, Bran, who very recently had potty-trained and is actually doing awesome at it, peed twice on the playground. Once he just dropped his pants down to his ankles and did the guy thing, and the second time he DIDN'T drop his pants, but peed anyway at the very top of the slide. Then Nuala and Brigit went down the slide. Three pairs of wet pants for the the price of one! We're always on the lookout for a bargain, so we were pretty pleased.

Wow. Pretty cool. We only got to go inside 4 of the 6, and the hikes up were quite...hikey. Back in the day there weren't steps carved into the mountain, and the monks just hauled people/supplies up in big nets attached to ropes. Apparently when someone asked how often they replaced the ropes, the answer was: "when the Lord lets one break." That's a confidence-builder!

Exploring the bathrooms at one of the monasteries. They were the fun, Asian-style ones. Just a hole in the floor. Also, after I took this picture and then went down there myself, I passed Liam's half-eaten sandwich plunked on the stone wall right by the loo. Later I saw him eating it again. Yum...

Shockingly, this cannon was a great favorite of Bran's.

The Smittys looking oh-so-cute in front of a monastery. This is the one that was in the James Bond movie, For Your Eyes Only. Totally recognized it, didn't you??

Yeah. We look GOOD. You're all jealous! Alright, I know this picture flatters NO one (maybe that faded angel behind us), but these are the lovely wrap-around skirts those of us who were dressed inappropriately were privileged to wear. Somehow we snuck into the first monastery we visited without getting to wear one and we felt very out of place among the other fashionable, yet pants-clad women who were sporting them.

Bran and Nuala loved lighting the candles. We don't do this in our church, and as far as I know, you light a candle for a specific person, kind of as a prayer. Nuala kept picking Brigit.

Doesn't that just look awesome?! This is the James Bond monastery, too. It does have a real name, but I can't remember it right now. Only "residents" of the monasteries get to ride the cable car. All us other poor schmucks (even the pregnant ones...yeah, terrible, I know) have to go the loooong way up. Step by step by step by step...(repeat 8 million times...)

Halfway up to one of the monasteries. There's one behind us, too, but you can't really see it well. I think Bran looks so cute and chummy here, his arms around us both so possessively. Nuala is trying to disengage that arm.

Brigie and Bran. I think they kinda look more alike than Bran and Nuala!

Pretty much my favorite picture from the whole trip...the roomful of skulls and bones at one of the monasteries. These are from previous monks, but the REALLY old ones, not recent monks. And Nuala! Ha!

This was funny, too! I fear it may come off as a little sacrilegious...but here I go, sharing it anyway. In many of these pictures of Christ and His mother, He's making a gesture with His little hand...a couple of fingers up, a couple down. Sometimes the fingers vary. Bran is enthralled with Spiderman, and often "shoots" his own web at us. He's totally got the finger positioning down. So the first time he noticed one of these paintings with baby Jesus holding his fingers somewhat similarly, he got all excited and said, "Him shooting web, like Spiderman! Like dis!" and proceeded to shoot his own web! Ha, funny boy! Okay, funnier if you were there.

Whoa...almost gettin' dizzy... Looking down from one of the monasteries that actually let you get perilously close to the edge. Now, I think I'm a rather un-paranoid, yet still safe, parent, and I don't really have a thing about heights myself, but even so, I was very uneasy even standing 20 feet back while clutching Bran and Nuala's hands in an iron grip. It was cool looking down for the second I entrusted Z with them, but just having them up in the vicinity of that drop had my heart in my throat. But the view is pretty great! (Not that there's any reason to NOT trust Z with them, but it was one of those moments when you feel you hafta be there yourself, ya know?)

Bran and a warrior angel. He really liked this painting, too.

She-Ra! The Princess of Power cast well her spell on the youngsters. Look at them vegging! Bonding...I mean BONDING.

Not the best lighting, but our two rascals with the slingshots they insisted on getting. Luckily they aren't able to actually use them yet, but they sure are cute!

Then we went home. Headed back to Bulgaria and marveled at how the roads gradually worsened until they reached Bulgaria standard. Really, it was pretty impressive. But it was good to be back! Great trip, but always nice to get home.