Gorgeous

Monday 9 September 2024

We were still contemplating whether we should try and find the other bridge, after the unnerving off-road experience of the previous day, when a Greek lady walked past our van and started chatting with us. Amongst other things we learnt that she’d seen a bear and her cub in the river here recently. I’d read there were bears in the area and when I went out to take some photos at dawn I’d noticed some fresh, unusual looking, poo the other side of the bridge. You have to believe me when I say I’m not normally someone who closely examines poo but I did take a photo and Google it back at the van and, I suspect, the bears had been there earlier that morning.

The lady also mentioned Portitsa Bridge and the gorge that I’d read about. She explained that it was a 40 minute drive and, apart from one small section of dirt road, was perfectly doable in our van. So decision made we said our goodbyes and set off to find the bridge. 

We drove up to and through the sleepy village of Spilaio where locals were out in the square drinking coffee and watching the world (and two foreigners in a red VW van with the steering wheel on the ‘wrong side’) pass by very slowly. The other side of the village the road dropped down steeply before arriving at a small car park. Dressed in shorts and waterproof hiking sandals we walked towards the gorge - what a beautiful place. We walked over then under the bridge, built in 1743, before wading up to our knees in the warm waters of the Venetikos river and through the narrow gorge.

It wasn’t overrun with visitors, maybe 30 in total, unlike the rock pillars and monasteries in Meteora which we visited next. 

Of the 24 Eastern Orthodox Monasteries originally built at Meteora only 6 remain active and open to visitors today. These strange geological formations, dating back 60 million years, with the monasteries perched atop them attract thousands of tourists arriving by bus throughout the day. Together with their loud pushy tour guides they seemed to occupy every inch of these magnificent sacred spaces. We paid the nominal €3 entry free to see the 14th century Varlaam Monastery but found there was little opportunity for quiet reflection or admiring the ornate chapel. We quickly moved on and found places on the roadside to admire the monasteries from afar and enjoy the stunning scenery looking out across the Thessaly Plain and Pindos mountains in the distance. 

We had planned to visit Vikos Gorge in the Zagori region of northern Greece next but decided to delay that for a few days while a severe weather system passes over. A contested claim states it is the highest canyon in the world in proportion to its width. It is also reputed to be home to more brown bears!!