Metsovo in the sunshine.

The sunshine and the rooster "kiss" us awake. Speaking of rooster, it also tastes delicious cooked in white wine with homemade fries. Just like lamb with homemade Metsovo noodles, chicken in lemon, and stuffed tomatoes and peppers. In a local tavern with authentic Greek cuisine, which you will never find in Germany. If you want to lose weight in Greece, you can't eat lamb, sheep, pork, poultry, puff pastry, cake, or yogurt, basically nothing.

Today our path leads us to the Valley of the Butterflies, which are not part of the menu.

Returning to the fig, by the way, a symbol of fertility: it doesn't matter if they fall on parked motorcycles, as long as they are not too ripe and remain intact. But they are not a sign of luck. Yesterday started with a little fall of a motorcycle in the sloping parking lot, with the effect of a shortened clutch lever. The gear lever could be straightened with brute force. So except for a battered nervous system, everything was fine. On to the monasteries of Meteora, which could not be seen from the town. In the winding serpentine roads of the mountains on the way there, a magnificent and indescribable sight is revealed, causing some architects and engineers to rethink their abilities, how on earth did these massive buildings come to these mountain peaks. The way there is now accessible to tourists via stairs. They weren't back then, which is probably the reason why the clerical and secular treasures are still there. One becomes rich by keeping. Anyway, when you reach the top, men need long pants and women need a skirt, even if they are wearing long pants. It's nice that these skirts are automatically provided by a nun. Crazy! The view from above of the rocky massif and the other monasteries is also crazy. The interior of the monasteries cannot be described in detail, you have to see it. It goes without saying (almost) that taking photos is prohibited.

After the descent, we return to the valley and from there take long and short winding turns into the nature reserve, where we could have seen bears, as we later learned. So we found out that Greek cows, goats, sheep, horses, donkeys, and dogs prefer to move in groups from right to left or vice versa across the road. For the foreign motorcyclist, it should be noted that warning signs indicating these animal species should be taken seriously, otherwise it could get tight (bad luck for XT riders!).

The myth that it never rains in Greece was destroyed in passing. And when it rains, it pours. It's not quite what we did to the other gods of Olympus - we always ate everything - but the sky opened up and the forced stop was inevitable. Unfortunately, there was no shelter in the nature reserve, and there were no bears either. But it was also impossible to continue driving in the rain. So soaked to the bone, shivering from the cold, we slowly made our way to the next pass, which leads to a ski resort, up to the tree line. We drove through the first town. Here, the group split up. The soft XT rider took shelter at a closed tavern and exchanged his soaked T-shirt and shorts for a new shirt and long pants. He waited there until the sun came out again. In the meantime, the only friend by his side was the cow Elvira.

The rest of the group, after a misadventure through Metsovo on cobblestone streets, was guided to the hotel by the two messengers Anton and Jakob.

After a hot shower and hiding under the covers, it was time for another tavern. Yia Mas!