Traveling to Meteora on the Train

We were warned about visiting Greece during the Greek Orthodox Easter (the week following the Christian Easter), but traveling the Friday before the Christian Easter proved interesting.  Turns out the Christian is big for traveling too.

The trip to the Meteora monasteries was the first arranged tour we booked while in Europe.  The tour arranged the five hour train to the town of Kalampaka situated at the food of the Meteora rocks, hotel, some meals, and a small bus with a guide to see the monasteries.  The tour company informed us all the first class accommodations were booked  so we had to travel second class.  I was told there wasn’t much difference between first and second class.  Ordinarily there probably isn’t, but this was Easter weekend remember.

Pigeons are everywhere in Europe and the train station in Athens was no exception.  Employees would chase them out and the next time the door opened in they would come.  Almost like what happened on our train ride–only we didn’t chase anyone out.

The train started and we settled into our 8 person compartment and there appeared to be two empty seats so…we got ready to spread out when a woman comes rushing in speaking in Greek and slides into one of the empty seats.  We were told by a young man in our compartment who spoke English that the train was overbooked so people were looking for seats.  The conductor came and checked tickets–I imagine the woman told him that we said we had no problem with her sitting in the compartment and he moved on.  A little while later she left and a man came in–thus our compartment became a revolving door.  I was a little confused until I left the compartment to use the bathroom and the whole corridor was full of families, couples, and singles with their suitcases.  Many were seated in seats in the corridor which folded flat when not in use. It turns out the train company overbooks cheap seats and does not guarantee customers a seat.  Unfortunately, the picture below is after I realized I should have taken pictures of the corridor before the five hour train ride was almost over since many people had gotten off the train at the numerous stops before Kalampaka.

People were standing between cars, around the bathroom–which was used way too much.  The young man who spoke English told me to use the first class bathroom.  Alan and I headed out to first class.  We had barely gotten into the first class train car and we were accosted by not one but two conductors:  Out, you can’t come in here.  First class only.   Guess there is a difference between first and second class…oh, and there weren’t people and suitcases in the corridor.

The scenery on the trip reminded me of Albuquerque.

The town of Kalampaka.