This was the name of our tour, and it certainly lived up to it!
Everything I read about the Meteora monasteries when researching our shore excursions talked about the 300 steps you have to climb to reach them, and Larry was a little nervous about that aspect of the tour. But other than the requirement for women to wear a skirt and cover their shoulders, there was no mention made of this physical challenge. And it would have been quite the challenge for some of the others in our group of 30. As it happened, the monasteries we visited were both accessible by road and then a few stairs.
Meteora is the name of the rock formations where the monasteries were built. They do seem to just loom up out of nowhere just behind the town of Kalambaka. The original 24 monasteries were established in the 13th and 14th centuries; now there are 6 remaining, all still in use by orders of monks or nuns. These remaining monasteries were added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1988.
The history of religious occupation of the area goes back to the 900s, when a group of hermit monks began inhabiting huge hollows in the rocks. Our guide, who was very knowledgeable and thorough, pointed some of them out to us as we drove down to Kalambaka.
The monasteries were built at a time when there was increasing attack on Greece by the Ottomans, and the communities of monks wanted to remain safe and remote. The only access was via rope ladders and baskets. They certainly couldn't have any fear of heights! I had a hard enough time walking up a set of stairs to the second monastery we visited, and that was in a crush of people.
 |
| St. Stephen's Monastery as we approached |
The first monastery we visited was the St. Stephen's Monastery, which is now the home of 28 nuns. And they are very strict with the dress code for women. There are wrap-around skirts available in the vestibule where you purchase your tickets, but not enough to go around, so there were girls and women waiting for skirts to be returned. In fact, there was a nun standing in the middle of the staircase taking skirts from women who were leaving and passing them over to those who were waiting. I was glad I had packed an appropriate skirt. I put it on over my zip-off Columbia pants in the bus, and zipped off the lower part of the legs, so I was still wearing the shorts underneath.
St. Stephen's is one of the larger accessible monasteries and is home to a large courtyard and garden, as well as a museum and a magnificent church. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, as it would be practically impossible to move people through if they kept stopping for pictures and (Heaven forbid!) selfies, no photography is allowed. The church walls and ceilings, and even the wooden beams that span across the arches for stability, are completely painted. The walls are covered with religious frescoes and lots of gold leaf. It is almost a relief for the eyes to get outside and into the garden.
In this photo we can see two monasteries. The one on top of the rock is the Great Meteoron, the largest of all of them, and the one just above the trees is the Monastery of Rousanou, which was our second visit. We left the bus at a pathway that wound down through the trees and ended at the entrance to the monastery steps.
Here's a somewhat closer version of the above photo, so you can sort of see the access. From the entrance there is a flight of stairs to a terrace, and then another flight of stairs with a fairly low balustrade to a short bridge (on the right hand side of the building at approximately the level of the covered balcony) that was pretty scary to cross.
Once again, lots of people, so going into the small church, also highly decorated, was something of a hassle. We had a couple of minutes out on a balcony on the other side of the building, where I took this panoramic shot of the valley and the Great Meteoron.
Once we finished at the monastery, we did have to take a set of stairs the rest of the way down. Some of our group had walked up from the where the bus parked to wait for us, and counted about 165 stairs. So walking down those as well as the path down to the monastery probably also gave us a 300-stair count.
This next monastery we photographed is St. Nicholas Anapausas, which is also open to the public. Another one of those you have to climb stairs to reach.
And finally, a photo of the Monastery of Varlaam. It is also a very large monastery, and only has 7 monks living in it at present. They could probably go from oneSunday to the next and never see each other!
It was a fairly short and rather crowded visit to the monasteries, and considering this isn't even high tourist season, we did quite well to see everything. The monasteries are a must-see for anyone visiting this part of Greece.
We had a surprise sighting as well. On the highway we passed the convoy bearing the Olympic Flame, which had been lit 5 days previously and was now on its traditional journey through Greece before the relay to Paris for the 2024 Summer Games. Now, as we stood waiting to cross the street to reach our bus, the convoy passed right by us! I did manage to grab one good photo
And just so Larry could say he was here:
One more interesting site in the rocks is this small monastery in a cave about 30 metres up in one of the rocks. It is the Monastery of St. George of Mandila. The entrance to the cave is traditionally hung with kerchiefs, although it looks more like larger cloths are there now.
Back in Kalambaka, we stopped at a restaurant for lunch. Again, we started with a platter of appetizers, including spanakopita, tyropita (with cheese instead of spinach), tzatziki and a mini-moussaka
For the first time, we actually had a Greek Salad!
And our main course was, once again, lamb, but this time served with orzo.
After taking a last look and photo of the Meteora rock formations, we headed back to Volos and the ship.
Our next stop is the island of Paros, where we only have a walking tour of the town of Parikia in the morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment