Athens to Thessaloniki to Meteora, Greece

Athens

I really like Athens. I went there in December 2018 and stayed until March 2019. Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the year, and I remember I sat in a lovely restaurant journaling and having some white wine and dessert. For New Year’s Eve, I met up with another traveler and we ended up in the neighborhood Thiseio, sitting at a cafe with an amazing view of the Acropolis where come midnight, they set off a ton of glorious fireworks. So much else happened there, I got into a relationship, explored so much of the area, and really enjoyed it.

I came back to Athens a few weeks ago, arriving from Bangkok. Bangkok felt so heavy to me. I was overeating junk, drinking caffeine and alcohol, and not exercising. I needed to get out of there. Athens is the place where during that first visit, I started intermittent fasting with great success. So, I came back. I love the Acropolis. I feel like it’s an energy center and, overlooking the city, the energy of it reaches the surrounding valley. But, it just wasn’t enough this time. After two weeks, I was ready to leave but I had no idea where to go. I was still overeating and drinking (the food and baked goods in Athens are divine) and the apartment was not very peaceful.

Thessaloniki

I went to Thessaloniki. It was about a 7 hour journey via bus. It is a fine city. I found the history quite sad, but interesting. However, it’s not a place where I suddenly felt lighter or like I could really breathe or take care of myself. I felt no closer to knowing where to go next and kept thinking I would choose between Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, or Romania as an interim while I decided where to settle for longer term (to save myself some Schengen zone days – as I only get 90 total during a 6 month period, and because I haven’t been to any of them, each having some great draws). But, I knew I needed to experience Meteora, Greece first. So I booked the bus there.

Meteora

Wow. Meteora is so magical. When I arrived, I could immediately feel the energetic power of this place. Meteora is an area of massive rock formations with very old monasteries (and now some newer convents) on top of some of the rock formations. It’s hard to describe the feeling of these rock formations. They’re alive with healing energy and calm. I have hiked up twice (the better option) and took the bus up twice, and what I’ve found is that the power is in the nature, whereas when I entered the monastery or convent (I’ve been to three out of the six of them so far), I feel something quite different. I feel more heaviness and sometimes even a prison-like feeling. But, on the rocks, it’s a place of elevated frequency.

You cannot stay in Meteora, as it’s just the rocks with the monasteries and no public structures are present or allowed (thankfully), so I am in the town Kalambaka which is just below the towering rocks, and you can see them from everywhere in the town. Although the rocks are super powerful and healing, and I appreciate that the town itself is a bit low-key, awash with the power of the giant rocks, I am starting to feel again like I need to urgently get somewhere I can stay longer term. I have been here a week and booked five days more because of how healing the rocks are, but there is construction all around my apartment. They are redoing the roof next door during the daytime and just when I thought I could manage that and at least relish in some peaceful evenings, the guy next door apparently has a workshop downstairs and has been sawing and hammering 4-5 hours until 10pm the last two nights, and who knows if that will continue. I tried to meditate this morning, and with the constant banging, it simply was not fruitful. My mouth and jaw tense up and my chest tightens. The healing power of the nature is dampened by the stress from the intense noise. Even now, I am sitting at a cafe, and the man next to me has been jabbering away on his phone the whole time. This is life, yes, but right now I need to escape all of this human influence in order to recover and reprogram my health.

Where to go next to heal my body

Although I know I need to leave, it’s been a good experience to feel the juxtaposition of Meteora, which is so healing for me, and the town, Kalambaka, with noise and things that I am simply ill-equipped to handle right now if I am going to move in the direction I want to. That direction is one where I reprogram my taste buds, balance my body chemistry, cleanse and detox, and drop the excess weight and inflammation. Rebuild basic muscle strength, flexibility, and posture. Also, where I retrain my brain out of the habit pattern of screens and eating to relieve the intense energy that I feel in my body that I haven’t been able to cope with in any other way. I’d like to do this with a long juice cleanse, colonics, hot/cold therapy, and yoga. In order to do these immense tasks, I need a place where I can live for at least 6 months, that has the following traits:

• Beautiful, powerful nature readily accessible
• Yoga center with lots of classes
• Fitness center, ideally with a sauna and ice bath
• Lighter energy, not too heavy with darkness
• A very quiet apartment/home that has a view, an equipped kitchen, a comfortable bed, good wifi, and a bedroom with room darkening curtains
• Ideally walkable/public transport, where I don’t need to deal with securing a vehicle
• A place that’s not too difficult to stay in visa-wise, where I can easily procure a juicer, and where I feel there is an air of health and positivity, or at least not a lot of negativity

I really don’t know where to go. I have thought that one of the easier options would be to go back to Vancouver because I know that the nature there is relatively accessible. Not really what I’m looking for as it takes a bit of a commute to get to forests, but it’s not too bad, and it has everything else, including the fact that I already have a juicer and art supplies in storage there. So, it would be a relatively quick set-up. But, something doesn’t feel right about it. It’s a city and I feel like I need somewhere truly quiet right now. It’s not a quiet place and likely any apartment I get that is anywhere close to a yoga studio is not going to be super quiet. Also, my ex is there and I often feel an energetic tie with him when I think of Vancouver. This is something that I am actively disintegrating with success, but I still don’t like it. Finally, when I envision where I’m needing to be, it is smaller, more peaceful, and a new type of energy, I even see it with stone streets. I just don’t know where it is.

I also keep getting caught up in the tax implications. In actuality, nowhere in the United States feels right, but if it did, I wonder if I would trigger some sort of tax consequences. But, I think the truth is that I should not worry about that right now. I should focus on where feels right, and then let the rest fall into place, and if it costs me more money, then it costs me more money. Fear of lack and limitation, and a feeling of scarcity is what I want to transcend. I desire to follow where the universe tells me I’m meant to be. I just wish I knew where that was. It feels urgent that I find somewhere to heal, as I am not well.

Possible places

There are a ton of places, but some that seem to currently be in my mind are:

• Quebec City (cold winter, which is when I’ll be there)
• Halifax (cold winter)
• California (need a car)
• Vancouver (feels like too much)
• UK (feels heavy)
• ……I really don’t know

Seeking higher assistance

I am in need of higher guidance. And, as a wonderful seer I meet with from time to time verified during our last session, my connection with higher guidance is there, but it’s like a very thin thread. I feel like I cannot connect. Like I am lost and alone, trying to navigate the world intuitively when I am blocked and cannot hear the guidance of my higher self or the universe. So, please, any and all higher dimensional entities and creation itself, please help me. Please push me in the direction where I will be able to heal and continue on this initiation.