Monasteries of Meteora

We have driven right up the middle of Greece about level with the border of Albania to our left. Further north would be North Macedonia.

The hotel is at the foot of a group of rugged mountains that are the reason we are here today.

Kalambaka is a small town of only 10,000 people. Their living is agriculture and tourism from the Monasteries of Meteora. To visit, men must wear long pants and the ladies must cover knees and shoulders.

Perched precariously on the peaks above us are six monasteries. The six (of an original twenty-four) monasteries are built on immense natural pillars and hill-like rounded boulders that dominate the local area. We could see one from our hotel pool! They date back to the 13th and 14th centuries. Think about how they could have possibly built them back then.

We will visit two. All the monasteries are strict and active Greek Orthodox with four being for monks and two for nuns. Their attraction is how the hell they were built. We were told they wanted to be built as high as possible to be closer to God. Another reason was the Greek monks and nuns wanted to be safe from invading Muslims.

The drive up in our bus was challenging and again we were battling the heat. The first monastery (Trinity) is for 33 nuns. The youngest 25, the oldest 90. They opened the gates, and we walked across a platform into their home. This monastery was bombed in WW2 and was largely renovated since 1960. Inside there are no pics allowed. The places of worship were incredible with paintings and shrines to the Christian history.

Caves in the vicinity of Meteora were inhabited continuously at least 5,000 years ago. The oldest known example of a built structure, a stone wall that blocked two-thirds of the entrance to the Theopetra cave, was constructed 23,000 years ago, believed to be a barrier against cold winds and many Paleolithic and Neolithic artifacts of human occupation have been found within the caves.

We were shown the spot where in 1984 James Bond was once filmed with Roger Moore as 007.

On the second monastery we climbed 167 steps to enter. We came across the monks who were waiting for goods to be winched up from the valley. They were pleased to give pics and chat. They originally used ropes and a pulley but today it is a modern cable system.

We were also shown the huge barrel almost 500 years old that was used to store wine that was also winched up in buckets and decanted. The wine is from their vineyards beside the town.

Meteora was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1988 because of the outstanding architecture and beauty, in addition to its religious and artistic significance.

This is a must do destination if you travel to northern Greece. What we saw today dates back to as long ago as the 13th century. Too incredible to explain properly.

Lunch was at a local authentic restaurant with great food and even better views.

The afternoon will be too hot to do anything so pool time or a siesta might be the best plan.

Tonight, we have a short sunset drive to see the monasteries at sunset. This has been a memorable visit.Okumaya devam et