Weekend Photo Upload : Small Video of Meteora,Greece

Monasteries in Meteora : World Heritage Site

This is the continuation of my last post to Meteora. For quick reference -

“Meteora is an area in Thessaly (Central Greece) and Kalampaka is the city under
the rock towers of Meteora. The thing that makes Meteora so special is the
monasteries on the top of the rock towers. The monasteries, the amound of peaks
to climb and the paths for hiking brings in Meteora the whole year many
tourists”.

The view was absolutely amazing, but the most atomizing was the Monasteries in the top of the mountains, which was built 1000 years back, without the help of modern science, in a typical way. It is beautiful and the painting in the monasteries reveals the orthodox Greek culture, reflects the way they lived throughout ages.

Wikipedia is describing this place as “The Metéora is one of the largest and most important complex of monasteries in Greece, second only to Mount Athos.The monasteries are built on spectacular natural sandstone rock pillars, at the northwestern edge of the Plain of Thessaly near the Peneios river and Pindus Mountains, in central Greece. The Metéora is home to six monasteries and is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List.”

Matt Barrett explained how the Monasteries were built.

The area of Meteora was originally settled by monks who lived in caves within
the rocks during the 11th Century. But as the times became more unsure during an
age of Turkish occupation, brigandry and lawlessness, they climbed higher and
higher up the rock face until they were living on the inaccessable peaks where
they were able to build by bringing material and people up with ladders and
baskets and build the first monasteries. This was also how the monasteries were
reached until the nineteen twenties and now there are roads, pathways and steps
to the top.

List of Monasteries in Metéora (from Wikipedia)
All of these monasteries are located at Metéora in Greece, and most are perched on high cliffs and accessible only by treacherous staircases cut into the rock formations. They were created to serve monks and nuns following the teachings of the Greek Orthodox Church. Much of the architecture of these buildings is Athonite in origin.
The Holy Monastery of Great Meteoron – This is the largest of the monasteries located at Metéora. It was erected in the mid-14th century AD and was the subject of restoration and embellishment projects in 1483 and 1552. The building serves as the main museum for tourists.
The Holy Monastery of Varlaam – This is the second largest monastery in the Metéora complex. It was built in 1541 and embellished in 1548. The refectory of the church serves as a museum.
The Holy Monastery of Rousanou - This was founded in the middle of 16th century AD and decorated in 1560.
The Holy Monastery of St. Nicholas Anapausas - Built in the 16th century AD, this is a small church. It was decorated by the Cretan painter Theophanis Strelitzas, in 1527.
The Holy Monastery of St. Stephen - This small church and convent was built in the 16th century and decorated in 1545. This monastery is more easily reached than many of the others, as it rests on the plain rather than on a cliff.
The Monastery of Holy Trinity - This monastery is very difficult to reach, due to its location, on top of the cliffs. It was built in 1475 and was remodeled many times .

What I found some interesting facts about the dress codes in these monasteries, Women with short dress are not allowed, and also the visiting hours. In some of the monasteries communication is done through rope way. When we came back from the place it was almost night and the visibility in the hill was poor, so better to leave the place well in advance.

On The way to Meteora

We went to a short trip to Meteora last weekend. We started enjoying Greece again after coming back to Athens. But the main difference this time is the scorching heat. This is one of the hottest summers and temperature almost touched 50C some days. It’s unbelievable and unbearable. Almost 100 people died here due to this consequence of Global warming. The worst effect of the warming is massive flood in Indian subcontinent, another catastrophe but different in nature. What I heard from one of my Greek colleague is, if the summer continues like this way, part of Greece will be desert in few years, but I really don’t know the authenticity of it.

Well, keeping aside the Global warming, what I observed this time is nature lost its color here in Greece, its bit shabby but still enchanting. The sky is not that blue (so as the water as it’s the reelection of the sky), but very natural. See the original version of the picture below on the way to Meteora.

Meteora is wonderful, formed by many big meteors it’s a true gift of nature. The nearest town from his place is Kalambaka, almost 400km away from Athens. Passing through lovely crowded beaches to small gray mountains it took almost four and half hour to reach Meteora. I was the only driver and it was tough for me to drive 800km in a day, especially in hilly highways. This is my longest drive as a driver and enjoyed every moment of it with Hindi songs, witty comments with co-passengers and cokes.

The first view of the place is very impressive; the fascinating rocks bewildered me in first glance .Greek: Μετέωρα, "suspended rocks", "suspended in the air" or "in the heavens above", however there are many theories for the rocks creation, like meteors, dropped from sky; nothing is full proven. But it looks amazing, soothing heavenly, very unique and absolutely natural. That’s the reason it is considered to be one of the best tourist attractions of Greece.

We were hungry and not wasting any time started searching for restaurants. But in the mountains there was hardly any house or restaurants. We found one board “Eagel Restaurant – 8 km from here” and followed the path. It took us to the top of the mountain and driving there would have been extremely difficult if not the infrastructures are so good. Scenic beauty was fascinating and so the Lunch. Very tasty traditional Greek Lunch in cheap price (compared to islands).

Meteora is not only famous for the natural beauty of rocks, mainly because of the world-famous monasteries. I am going to write about them in my next post.