METEORA

While we don't identify with any religion, we are looking forward to visiting this sacred place where immense, lonely rocks jut into the sky, where caves and monasteries exist apparently in the air, where isolation heals and where faith conquers all.

We think we are staying in Meteora, but this word simply refers to the rock formations and means "suspended in air" (between earth and heaven).  We have a choice of staying in the towns of Kalambaka or Kastraki.  Kalambaka is the larger of the two, so we elect to stay here.

Originally there were 24 monasteries.  Today, six are active (four with men and two with women)with only a small number of monks and nuns living here.

Some of the rocks of Meteora:

The earliest souls here, arriving in the 9th. century were hermits, committed to fleeing a world that was in moral decline and seeking to establish a personal relationship and even to come face-to-face with their creator.  They prayed for their salvation and for the salvation of all people. Once a hermit climbed up and found his space in a rock he would fast for days or even weeks, devoting his all to God and depending on peasants for any sustenance.  They would go for years without washing, disdaining their physical selves.

Today we can still see the caves that the hermits inhabited.  In the beginning, they were individuals, but for protection and survival, they needed to also connect with one another, which took the form of a weekly shared meal and prayer session.

Cave dwellings (hermitages) became more elaborate over time and as townspeople helped in the construction.

This is a retreat for monks to come to.  A monk who is over 90 years of age stays here permanently now.  It can be driven to so the doctor can reach him if needed.

This is an abandoned retreat:

In later years, when the hermitages were gone, the local people would wall in a cave that was at ground level to use as a corral for their herds of sheep or goats.  When Meteora became a UNESCO site, the corrals could no longer be used, although the animals are permitted to walk through the site.

By the end of the 14th. century Turkish raiders were becoming more prevalent, so monks began to come to the inaccessible Meteora to feel safe.  They began to construct monasteries in and on the rocks that were protected by retractable ladders and/or ropes.  By the end of the 14th. century they were thriving, growing potatoes, corn and grapes on the land and tending flocks and herds.

Today the monks and/or nuns preserve and maintain the ancient treasures of the monasteries and of the sites themselves which are also supported by UNESCO as a world heritage site; embroider with gold thread; make beeswax candles, incense and small icons; cultivate the monastery gardens, keep bees and produce publications.  Their main income is from the small entry fee that tourists pay to see the monasteries.

For a more thorough history of the hermitages and monasteries go here: History

Our Airbnb is nestled close to two of the large, skyward reaching rocks (up to 600 meters).  At night they are illuminated.  Our host has left us some information, so early in the morning, we head towards the old town and the trailhead for the hike to the most inaccessible of all the monasteries, Holy Trinity  (Agia Triada).  We see almost no one on the trail.  For movie buffs, the final scenes of the James Bond movie, For Your Eyes Only were filmed here.

In the photos below you will see where the trail ends in stairs up to the monastery - an overall picture and a close up:

Meteora was also a backdrop for Game of Thrones.  Everything was digitally mastered due to restrictions on filming in this protected site.

The hike up takes about 45 minutes and gains an altitude of 466 meters.  The paths to the monasteries had to be kept in reasonable condition so that pack animals could ascend.  I am more comfortable on the trails using my hiking stick to go up and my knee brace to come down.

This monastery is the second oldest monument of Meteora (built between 1458 and 1476).  In the old days, Holy Trinity was the centre of the monastic community and had the most monks.  Today, four monks live here.  It was built in two small caves separated by a one-meter chasm which the monks connected with a wooden passage.  In the beginning, they had to climb a fifty-meter high ladder to reach it.

Monks had a life of physical deprivation and poor nutrition as they devoted themselves to prayer.  As a result, they became physically weak.  Many monks lost their lives falling off of the ladders they needed to climb, or even later when the winch and basket system was in place they would die crashing against the rocks as the winch raised them up towards the monastery.  In addition to the winch, 140 steps were hewn into the rocks of the Holy Trinity to improve access.

Today a cable car is available only to carry supplies and construction materials.

These photos illustrate the winch system at Holy Trinity:

The top left shows the rope wrapped around the pole.  A rope sling that a person or supplies could be put in is on the floor.  Top right shows the rope leading to a pulley to the outside of the building with a steel hook.  Bottom left - steel hook.  Bottom right - the rope needed to extend to the ground.

This is a beautiful little monastery and the views from it, spectacular, including those of nearby St Stephens which is now a nunnery and has over 25 nuns living there.  Some random photos:

After visiting Holy Trinity, we cross a gorge to another rock in the sky and climb up to the nearby St Stephens, the most accessible of the monasteries.  We decide to not go in, as this is on a tour that we will later take.

We learn that the nuns are VERY strict with the modest clothing rule.  For women, if we arrive with bare shoulders and shorts or pants they will provide us with a drape for the upper body and a wrap-around skirt for the lower body.  But men are out of luck.  Their knees and shoulders better be covered by clothing or they will not get in.  When we actually go, I have to wait a bit as the skirts are all out.

Our hike down ends at a lovely old accommodation run by an elderly couple who live here and have had it for over thirty years.  They serve up ice-cold beer, a welcome treat after our exertions.

We stop in town and book two tours of the monasteries.  One a Sunset Tour for the first evening.  The other a five-hour hike for the next day into two monasteries.

While the Sunset tour was great, the Sunset itself turns into a bit of a disappointment as the sky has been clear blue all day.  For a sunset to be impressive, there needs to be a few clouds in the sky.

During a coffee break on this hike, our guide Dimitri (AKA Jim) tries to give us an idea of what it's like to be Greek here.  He starts by asking the question: How long does it take to drink a cup of coffee:  Us: 20 minutes.  Jim: Never less than 3 hours.

Then he talks about how Greeks are trained from a young age to exist on little sleep.  He says that no adventure, coffee or meal is ever turned down because its late and one has to work or go to school in the morning.  Both are done.  Dinner is never before 10 PM and may start at 11 or midnight.

He says a group of 4 Greeks may get together at 9 PM to argue for an hour about where they will eat.  They arrive around 10 PM, sit at a table for eight and argue some more about what to eat.  When they finally order, its food for ten.

On the sunset tour, we also visit this incredible Byzantine church, built in the 10th and 11th centuries.  Photos are not allowed inside the church, but there are some on the Internet: Church of Dormition of the Mother of God

When cleaning the outside of the church during a restoration, they found these ancient marble pieces rescued from the ruins of other churches inset into the walls.  Apparently, this was a common practice.

There is no use in me trying to remember which monastery is which, all I can do is share the photos:

Below is the huge Great Meteora monastery.  It's sad to hear that only four monks now live here.  The rest fled Meteora to get some peace from the 2,000 tourists a day that go through their home and to be able to re-dedicate their lives to god.  It's too bad that putting some limits on tourism couldn't work with the monks' way of life.

On the next day, we join a group for a five-hour hike through the 'rock forest' that Meteora is.  We see ruins of monasteries, hidden monasteries, old battlegrounds where the Ottoman Turks were fought at a local uprising, statues, the enormous Great Meteora monastery and the Varlaam monastery high in the sky.  We walk through emerald green forests of pine and sycamore, of iron oak and see several land tortoises.  We never see a wild boar, but do step inside one of the pits they dig when it rains to get some mud time.

Here is an ancient sycamore:

You'll notice in the photos that many of the rocks seem black.  In fact, they are covered in a dried-up moss.  We are told that within ten minutes of good rain that the moss comes back to life and we are shown photos of the rocks covered in a brilliant green carpet … so different from what we see.

Below is a statue of the "warrior monk" Papathymios Vlahavas who was a key leader in the Greek revolution against the Ottoman empire.  Monks played an important role in the resistance movement.

Shortly after starting on the walk three of the "village" dogs join us.  They don't belong to anyone but must belong to everyone as they seem well fed.  They never beg for food when we stop for a snack.  They just seem to love all the hugs, pats and scratches they get from everyone.  In fact, we are two groups of hikers with a bit of time and distance between us and the dogs go between both groups for the entire hike.  When we climb to the top of a monastery on a soaring rock, a dish of water is offered to them.  There is no fighting, each takes their turn.

By the time we have finished our two hikes and have driven around we have seen each monastery from several different angles and never cease to be amazed at how they just seem to grow organically out of the rocks.

The photos below are from inside one or perhaps two monasteries.  Some of the monasteries had beautiful outside decks, while others had not much room at all on their rock and most spaces were indoors.  Some monasteries had museums with histories and displays; others opened a bedroom, so you could see how the monks lived.  Others displayed letters by the monks giving an even greater picture of their life.  Some of the murals and frescoes are priceless.

This post seems rambling and without focus.  Perhaps its because there is no other place I've ever seen that's even remotely like it.  Its breath-taking.  It's hard to imagine someone saying, I want to live in that cave way up there, then finding a way to get up there and staying there for years, occasionally going up and down.  It's hard to get your mind around it all.  Then the beauty that was created later in the monasteries, in the stonework of the buildings, in the artwork throughout the buildings.

We visited in the blazing sun of summer.  It must be truly mystical to see it on a foggy day in spring or fall when only the tops of the rocks can be seen suspended in the air.

We chose to do some hiking and the sunset tour.  There are daytime tours to monasteries that you can get to by road for those who can't or don't care to hike.

Next, we head to the village of Galaxidi on the sea.  We'll have a day at Delphi and one-and-a-half days at the seaside before leaving for North Macedonia.