Eastern Europe: The Floating Monastaries

Day 7 - July 21st, 2012
Meteora, Greece

We woke early(ish) and headed out.  We grabbed some snacks at a bakery and were on our way up the rocks of Meteora.  Meteora is derived from the same word as Meteor and it means "floating."  They called it that because the monasteries built in the area appear to be "floating;" perched atop tall pinnacles of rock.  There are a number of monasteries, most of which are open to the public, and it is possible to see them all in one day on foot.... but its insane.  For once I agreed to do the sane thing and we decided to take the car.  We drove to the first monastery and began the trek up the stairs.  This monastery was not tooooo high and it only took a few minutes to make the ascent.  We paid the nun at the entrance and Chloe borrowed a wrap around thingy so that she could comply with the dress code.  I should mention that as we went up we ran into some French Canadians, and I must mention that they were very fashionably dressed, notably, the entire family was wearing Tilley hats!  We explored the nunnery and were in awe of the frescoes lining the chapel.  The great painting depicted the torture and murder of early Christians before Christianity had reached critical mass.  It was an interesting feeling exploring an active monastery. Much of the monastery was restricted to us, but the architecture, the paintings, and the people made the visit incredible.

Rules for Visit

First Ascension

The First Monastery En Route

Outside of that first monastery we found another path and we followed it up to a lookout.  Spectacular.

On the Lookout

Monasteries Across the Way

Meteora

Living on the Rocks

Rock Tower

Vertical Creation and Construction

The Door

The Monastery from Above

Tourists on Top of the World

Through the Bushes

Back at the car we drove towards the next monastery.  It was starting to get hot, and it was already busy.  We crammed the car into the busy parking area and set upon our next set of stairs.  The architecture of the monastery was very similar to the first, and the paintings were of a similar theme.  Still, it was more amazing than the last as it was much higher and there was more open to the public.  One thing that we were able to see was the monastery's windlass.  The windlass is like a big pulley system that would be attached to a net.  This was how the monks brought supplies up to the monastery.  The monasteries have more modern means of getting supplies, but similar systems are still used.  Where once was a rope there is now a cable, and where once the monks would heave the goods upwards a small electric motor does the trick... Now, just imagine, before the windlasses were made to carry up the goods someone had to get up there to build the windlass...

Another Monastery

Looking Up

Friction

Down

Cable

Windlass

The Windlass Tower

Carved Door

Our next monastery was the Grand Meteora Monastery, and it lived up to the name.  We saw similar things as with the previous monasteries but everything was bigger and grander.  In this regard I will let my pictures do the talking for me.]

The Grand Meteoron

The Monastery

Tallness

Through the Flowers

Quiet Chapel

Exploring the Courtyard

The Inner Sanctum

The Great Meteoran  Monastery

Monastery to Monastery

Supa' hot, and exhausted, we decided to go see one more monastery.  Have you ever seen the James Bond film "For Your Eyes Only"?  You should.  This is where the ending scene was filmed.  For me, this was a must see.  We drove to its base, and we began to climb.  As always... incredible.  From the top of the rock spire I could look down and see where we were staying, and if I looked the other direction I could see another monastery (though this one was closed for lunch and we were exhausted).

Foot Path to Kalambaka

Stairs to the Monastery

Incoming Supplies

Cut into the Rock

James Bond

Monasteries Near and Far

Faith

360

Running Atop the World

Kalambaka

Another 360

Our Room... Dead Centre...

Into the Rock

The Old Stairs

Having seen a large portion of the monasteries we retreated to the car and drove back to Kalambaka.

Closed for Lunch

The Car and the Monastery

At the hostel I had a bacon and egg omelet, and we had fries and coke.  While we were resting a Londoner came down from the path to the Monasteries (which is right by the Hostel) and stopped for a drink.  Seems that everyone coming down stops as it is the first place to get a drink once you are off of the rock spires.  We later saw two French girls coming down the path (we had seem them at the monasteries and suspected they were French-Canadian)... actually... kind of interesting as we remembered them well because they almost got their camera taken away by an agitated monk... "No foto!"

Looming Meteora

Honda 50 (Very similar to my Honda 90!!!)

The View From our Room

One other interesting story that I should mention is that at the Grand Meteora Monastery there is a statue of the holy mother where people offer coins for blessings.  With just Chloe and I there we witnessed a woman rummaging through the coins... my guess is that she probably walked off with fifty Euros!  She did not care that we were there, and I think we were to in shock to say anything.  She was holding up her tour group, and as they were calling to her she was stealing other people's blessings... oh well... not my soul...

The monasteries we visited are as follows:
-Agias Varvaras Rousanou
-Variaam
-Magiou Meteorau
-Agias Triados