Day 14, May 16, 2024 – Today we toured two of the famous monasteries of Meteora in Thessaly in northwestern Greece. Metora has one of the largest and most precipitously built complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries, second in importance only to Mount Athos.[2] The six (of an original twenty-four) monasteries are built on immense natural pillars and hill-like rounded boulders that dominate the local area. Between the 13th and 14th centuries, the twenty-four monasteries were established atop the rocks.[3]
The Holy Monastery Monastery of St. Nicholas Anapausas, was founded in the 1300’s. All these monasteries and all the land around them are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and the road to them was only built after WW II. Before that they climbed up or used a rope system. To visit these monasteries, we had to comply with strict attire rules.
There are vineyards below the rock formations.
One photo shows four of the six active monasteries in Meteora, Thessaly in northwestern Greece. St. Nicholas, Roussanou, Varlaam and The Great Meteora. It has one of the largest and most precipitously built complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries, second in importance only to Mount Athos. The six (of an original twenty-four) monasteries are built on immense natural pillars and hill-like rounded boulders that dominate the local area. Between the 13th and 14th centuries, the twenty-four monasteries were established atop the rocks.
The nuns at St. Stephen’s Monastery maintain immaculate gardens. No photos are allowed in any of the monasteries churches, but inside each church was totally covered with religious paintings.
Check out the view of Kalambaka from the top of St. Stephen’s Monastery.
We were able to visit St. Stephen’s Monastery, that dates back to the early 12th century and the first hermit monks who settled on the cliff. It is currently a monastery for nuns.
We also visited the Holy Monastery of Varlaam, which is the second biggest monastery of Meteora. Located very close to Great Meteoro Monastery, it was founded in the mid 14th century by a monk named Varlaam. This If you look closely you can see a cable that goes to a dock at the top of the tower. This was originally used to send people and supplies up to the monastery. It has been replaced with an electric winch.
The Holy Trinity Monastery or the monastery of Agia Triada in Greek is one of the most photographed monuments of Meteora. At the same time, it ranks among the most difficult ones to reach in terms of its access. It was closed today. However, this 15th century monastery is where they filed sceans of the villain in For Your Eyes Only.At the Holy Monastery of Varlaam, where there are currently some monks, this is the dock where hoisted items land at the top and then are put on a trolley.
The Holy Monastery of Great Meteoron, it is the biggest and oldest one of all. It was called the monastery which remains “suspended in the air” (meteoro), because of the cliff formation of a gigantic rock on top of which it was built. The Great Meteoro Monastery or “Megalo Meteoron” was founded in the 14th century by Saint Athanasios the Meteorite.This is the most popular local cave, dedicated to St. George and located in one of the steepest slopes of a high rock, in Meteroa. The meaning of this cave’s name is “Saint George with the Scarves”.