Meteora monasteries

The Meteora Monasteries are the perfect union between the amazing Nature and the beauty of the architecture created by the human being. These Orthodox monasteries crown the top of huge natural rock formations, actually the word “Metoroa” Means “rocks in the air”. Some of these Orthodox monasteries were built more than 700 years in that, in principle, impossible location, with the intention of escaping the persecution of the Ottomans and Albanians.

(Click on the photo to enlarge it)

At its peak, XV century, they came to be 24 active monasteries but over the centuries, and by default, they have only remained 13 standing monasteries, of which active and viewable are only 6 nowadays, the rest are closed to the public and some even in ruins.

The 6 that can be visited are:

Monastery of San Nicolás.
Monastery of San Esteban.
Monastery of the Holy Trinity.
Monastery of the Transfiguration (Great meteor). It is the oldest.
Roussanou Monastery. The only one inhabited by nuns, the rest are inhabited by monks.
Varlaam Monastery.

They are not open every day, but there are always some of them closed for the maintenance and provisioning of the monks without the disturbing presence of tourists, and it takes turns according to the time of year, as you can see in the summary of this table:

The construction of the Meteora Monasteries, as one can imagine, it was very complicated, think how difficult it was to carry the heavy construction materials to the top of those rocks centuries ago, without machinery, based on strength and cunning…quite a feat. In addition, originally there were no steps that have been made later to facilitate access, but it was only accessed by ropes and baskets also raised by ropes. His life literally depended on a rope, through which the provisions were raised…

Once built, the life of the monks who stayed to live there had to be very hard, with many shortcomings of all kinds, but hoping to keep his faith and resist the invaders,…, who was going to tell those monks that nowadays, centuries later, their “castles” where I know “they self-imprisoned” forever, they would be a great tourist attraction…

To know these magnificent structures, the ideal is to do it on foot, through a hiking route we are approaching several monasteries that are above us, giving us a more realistic idea of ​​the distance that separates them from the ground. Therefore you will see that the photos of the Meteora monasteries are made from below, not like most that you will find in other articles that are made from viewpoints or from helicopters. You can also go by car and see them from the top of some viewpoints that have been made for tourists but in www.senderismoeuropa.com We always recommend you to do tourism in the most authentic and adventurous way possible and for this the best thing is a day of hiking in the area.

This way of approaching the Meteora Monasteries will allow you to discover other types of details and an environment that many tourists miss who only get off the bus to take some photos and continue on the road hastily from one monastery to another.…For example, from the tranquility of the hiking trails you can appreciate the flora and fauna of the area: turtles, vipers, beetles and giant wasps, plants and fungi of different types, some curious as in the following photos… You can also find shepherds with their herds of goats, adventure lovers who regularly climb these rugged rocks to practice climbing, etc…

Upholstered moss

Walking through the nearby oak forest, you can find a monastery that most visitors to Meteora never see, is the Ypapanti Monastery. It is not found on the rock formations but seems to be clinging laterally to the rock. It is one of the Meteora monasteries that is no longer active and is therefore closed to the public., but still it is impressive to see its location and its type of construction.

Ypapanti Monastery.

Do not forget to place a stone next to those of the other previous hikers who have passed through the place…You can also play, how children do with clouds, looking for similarities to familiar shapes among the whimsical shapes of the rocks…one will look like an animal, another one face, etc,…These curious rocks with their rounded shapes remind us of those that exist in Belogradchik (Bulgaria), those of Bulgaria also have a spectacular reddish color because their composition contains iron.

Rocks of Meteora (Greece)

Iron rocks of Belogradchik (Bulgaria).

On the staircase leading to the Great Meteor Monastery, we glimpse hundreds of caterpillars coming down from the trees using their silk threads, It is a perfect metaphor that Nature offers us of what the monks did using their ropes to go up and down centuries ago…

Caterpillars in procession on their silk thread

The hiking route will take us to the town of Kastraki, However, the masses of tourists usually stop in the neighboring town of Kalampka, which is larger and is where we can find a Tourist Office.. In fact Kalampaka has numerous small hotels and guest houses to accommodate tourists.. If traveling from Athens, to the South of Kalampaka, by highway, they are late 4 hours by car (much more by coach), the same as it takes to the Bulgarian border north of Kalampaka. Therefore, a good option is to fly to Sofia airport., visit Bulgaria and then go down to Meteora.

The day after this hiking route through the Meteora Monasteries you can visit the interior monasteries, They are not on big rocks but hidden among forests and of course they are not as frequented as those of Meteora. To carry out these hiking routes between the most remote monasteries, we recommend doing it with the accompaniment of a guide, since you go through wooded areas and it is easy to get lost because they are less trodden paths.

Kastraki village, scolded de Kalampaka (Greece)

If you like to visit ancient monasteries do not miss the Rila monastery, UNESCO World Heritage, located in Bulgaria but not far from them.

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