Meteora, Greece

Aside from the white washed villages of the Greek Islands and the Acropolis in Athens, another of the most recognizable sights of Greece is Meteora in Northern Greece with its 15th Century monasteries built on rock pillars high above the plains. Both of us had Meteora at the top of our list of must-see sights in Greece - and it was a long drive out of our way - so approached the area with a bit of trepidation wondering if it would be as spectacular as we anticipated it would be. No worries about it not meeting our expectations! The massive sandstone pinnacles are ancient yet could be the setting for a futuristic science fiction tale. The monasteries atop them add to this strange and beautiful landscape. As early as the 11th century, hermit monks were making solitary abodes in caves in the pillars and eventually 24 monasteries were built on top of the pinnacles. Today six of them are active religious sites occupied by monks, nuns - and busloads of tourists.

The earliest monasteries were reached by climbing articulate, removable ladders. Later windlasses were used so monks could be hauled up in nets. The ancient windlasses are still in evidence in some of the monasteries - and once you stand at the dock and look down hundreds of feet to the valley floor you realize you would have to have a lot of faith to be transported up in that manner. Now it is only a matter of climbing hundreds of stairs to get to the top. The joy of reaching the summit of any of the monasteries, namely: Great Meteora-Metamorphosis, Varlaam, Holy Trinity, St. Stephan, Roussanou and St. Nikolas Anapafsa - is that you can look around and get a bird's eye view of all the other monasteries perched on their individual pillars. The area around Meteora is littered with strange rock formations tunneled with caves or simply standing behind the tiny villages of Kastraki like they were dropped out of the sky or like a strange backdrop from a movie. James Bond fans will remember Holy Trinity.

Mar 20, 2007

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