16. Great Prespa Lake

Day 16: We are awakened by the sun early in the morning. We don't waste time and head towards Cape Roti. The path leads through dense vegetation to a viewpoint high above Cape Roti. The view from here over the Great Prespa Lake is fantastic. In the west, the Albanian mountain range separates us from Lake Ohrid. In the north, the snow-covered Baba mountain in North Macedonia. And to top it off, this wonderful sunlight that warms us pleasantly even at 8 o'clock in the morning. Along the way, we make a detour to a small hermitage carved into the cliffs. Here on the beach, we have the impression that the waterline used to be much higher. And indeed, later in the village, we are told that the water level has dropped by 7 meters in the last 50 years.

By 10 o'clock, we are back in the village of Psarades. Just in time for a little boat trip out onto the lake. Shortly afterwards, the two of us, along with our "skipper", are already on our way. Everything looks completely different from the water's perspective. Along the way, we can observe beautiful water birds, especially cormorants and pelicans, and our boat docks below another hermitage that is spectacularly located in a cave. We disembark and climb the 165 steps up. The view through the cave mouth is unique.

We spend the rest of the day driving to Kalambaka, the base camp for the Meteora monasteries. In the late afternoon, we set up camp at the Kastrakis campsite.