Double WOW!

GREECE

NOVEMBER 7, 2022 : Today was the day that I had been waiting for – visiting Meteora! It did not disappoint. Meteora is a double WOW. First, it is an area of great natural beauty. Huge, tall stone boulders overlooking the valley. This alone would make it an attraction. But in addition, on top of six of these large boulders, are working monasteries built in the middle-ages. Mind boggling to think how they managed to build such big buildings so high up, literally dangling off the edge of a high cliff. In the past, there had been over 20 monasteries here. Today only six remain. Five of the six were open today for visitors.

Knowing it would be a long day, we were out the door by 9:00. We decided to first drive by the Trikala synagogue. Maybe on a weekday, it would be open. We had trouble reaching the synagogue because the whole center of town was closed for the weekly market. It was huge, full of people shopping. We parked and made our way to the synagogue. Still all closed. No luck. We continued on to the market – the nicest fruits and vegetables ever. We stocked up and continued toward Meteora – only a ½ hour drive away.

Weekly market in Trikala. This part of the market is on the same street as the synagogue.

I had seen on Google maps, that there is a Meteora viewpoint on the mountain opposite and thought that would be a good place to start. Google navigated us on a spectacular small road, that turned into a gravel track, full of holes filled with yesterday’s rain. Not too bad. We were getting the idea that this viewpoint is not on the main tourist track. When Google said to turn down a dirt road, we gave up. After yesterday’s rain, there was mud and the possibility of getting stuck there did not seem like a good idea.

Boulders of Meteora in the distance
Views in the opposite direction – beauty all around
Getting closer

We continued on to our first monastery. Each monastery has a car park, and from there, it is usually up and down many steps to the top. Not easy going, but among the people going there, some were much older and some were much heavier. If they can make it, so can I. 300 steps later we reached the top.

View as we drive up to our first monastery. On the rocks in the middle is the last monastery that we will visit – The Monastery of St. Nikolaos
Looking up at our first destination – the Monastery of Great Meteoron. It is is oldest and the largest of the monasteries.
The Monastery of Great Meteoron. Notice the steps going up to the monastery. Parking is on the ridge opposite. To reach the monastery, you first descend into the valley and then climb back up.
As you climb up to the monastery, there are great views of the next monastery we will visit – the Monastery of Varlaam

At the entrance to the monastery, they will not admit women wearing pants. They keep there a box of scarves to wrap yourself in. We paid admission and went in and wandered about the buildings. The highlight was the courtyard, with the overlook to the valley.

Inside the monastery
View of the valley below
Wearing the obligatory scarf to cover my pants

And so the day continued – driving from one monastery to the next, going up and down many steps to reach the top, and then being wowed by the view. We managed to visit four out of the five open monasteries, the fifth had already closed for the day by the time we got there. Mark’s watch, that keeps track of such things, indicated that we had climbed 29 flights of stairs by the end of the day.

I will let the photos speak for themselves.


The Monastery of Varlaam – our next stop
Stairs to the monastery
The monastery courtyard
View from the courtyard. On the boulder on the right is the Monastery of Roussanou.
More views from the courtyard
We climbed some boulders to see the view. If you look closely, there are four monasteries in the photo.
The Monastery of St. Stephen was closed today. It is the only monastery accessible without stairs.
Panoramic view near the Holy Monastery of St. Stephen
The Monastery of the Holy Trinity. Featured in the 1981 James Bond film “For Your Eyes Only”
Monastery of the Holy Trinity
To reach the monastery you go down a winding cobblestone path to the bottom of the valley and then climb over 300 steps up
Climbing up
View of the boulders. Two monasteries in the far distance.
Made it. Entrance to the Holy Trinity Monastery
On the left is a net that was used to pulley people up to the monastery. In the center is the the winding cobblestone path leading to the monastery
From the monastery courtyard, you can see four of monasteries in the distance
The last monastery we visited – The Monastery of Saint Nicholas is in the center, on a low boulder.
Approaching the Monastery of Saint Nicholas
Watched a flimsy elevator hoist a construction worker with supplies up the side of the cliff
Views from the courtyard on the roof of the monastery
More views
On the boulder in the center is the Monastery of Roussanou as seen from the Monastery of Saint Nicholas. It was open today but we arrived after it had already closed. I was a bit relieved not to climb more stairs.
The view from our apartment in Kalabaka. If you look closely, two monasteries are visible on the rocks.
Watching the moon rise from our apartment

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  1. It figures that the one monastery that was closed was the one without stairs! What’s the reason for building the monasteries so high up and hard to reach?