Live by the Sun - Love by the Moon: Day 29 - There's Nothing Like This on the Whole Earth!

April 17 - Meteora...we walked over 10 miles

(so many pictures on this post, but I couldn't help it....so FANTASTIC!)

The six monasteries are built on natural sandstone rock pillars, at the northwestern edge of the Plain of Thessaly near the Pineios River and Pindus Mountains in central Greece. The Theopetra caves, south of Meteora had inhabitants fifty millennia ago. They were constructed 23,000 years ago, probably as a barrier to cold winds. In the 9th century, a group of hermit monks moved up to the ancient pinnacles. They were the first people to inhabit Metéora. They lived in hollows and fissures in the rock towers, some of which reach 1800 ft (550m) above the plain. This great height, combined with the sheerness of the cliff walls, kept away all but the most determined visitors. Initially the hermits led a life of solitude, meeting only on Sundays and special days to worship and pray in a chapel built at the foot of a rock known as Dhoupiani.

The beautiful site of Meteora

As early as the 11th century AD hermit monks were believed to be living among the caves and cutouts in the rock. The exact date of the establishment of the monasteries is unknown. More than 20 monasteries were built, beginning in the 14th century, but only six remain today. Of these six, four were inhabited by men, and two by women. Each monastery has fewer than 10 inhabitants. Access to the monasteries was originally (and deliberately) difficult, requiring either long ladders lashed together or large nets used to haul up both goods and people. This required quite a leap of faith – the ropes were replaced, so the story goes, only "when the Lord let them break".

We began the day very early - 7 a.m. Kostas took us to the town where he works, saying that he was sure we could hitch-hike to the top so we could explore Meteora. There were only tour buses that went there in April, so we set out with our daypacks and a little lunch. We tried to get a ride, but most everyone it seems, was not going that way. So, we ended up walking the whole way, through two towns and then to the cliffs.


Just as the sun was coming up on our walk to Meteora...we have a ways to go!

The weather was quite enjoyable and rather than walk the highway, we decided to cut off the beaten track and go where the monks used to....straight UP!! A pair of dogs started leading the way - they were cute, acting as our tour guides.

My tour guides are the BEST!

The sites were breathtaking! Imagining that we lived thousands of years ago, we were taken back in time as we climbed the same rocks the monks did to escape.

Rich climbed one of the cool trees along the way.

We're getting there!

We made it all in one piece!!


Don't look down, but that's where we just were - a bit scary!

I can't believe the monks climbed all these steps every day.

We ended up going to three of the six monasteries still in use today. Each one had an admission fee, and had large distances between them. Plus...we had to meet Kostas by 3:00 in order to get a ride back to his home.

I'm on the top of the world lookin' - down on creation!

Studies suggest that the pinnacles were formed about 60 million years ago during the Paleogene Period. Weather and earthquakes then shaped them into their present shape. Continuous weathering by water and extremes of temperature turned them into huge rock pillars, marked by horizontal lines which geologists maintain were made by the waters of a prehistoric sea.

The Holy Monastery of Great Meteoron - This is the largest of the monateries located at Metéora. It was erected in the mid-14th century.

The largest of the monasteries - we climbed this one first.

The Holy Monastery of St. Stephen is a small church built in the 16th century and decorated in 1545. This monastery rests on the plain rather than on a cliff. It was damaged by the Nazis during WWII who believed it was harboring insurgents and was abandoned. Nuns took it over and reconstructed it.

The Nuns lived in this one

The Monastery of Holy Trinity was a filming location in the 1981 James Bond movie "For Your Eyes Only."

And how in the world do we get up to this one?

Can you believe we went through two towns like this and then climbed up to the top?

Each of them were truly amazing and we found them unique, imagining all that went into the building of them.

Now - to take a look into some of the monasteries. Women had to wear skirts to get in, so they had some there for those who were not appropriately dressed.

In my cute designer skirt!

Unbelievable Meteora! We have so much respect for all the different religious beliefs there are in the world. As we travel Europe, there are so many, but all have one thing in common....to worship freely and live righteously - no matter how, who, what, or where.

We ate a late afternoon dinner with Kosta's family...what a good cook KiKi is, but we had to hurry and gobble it down in order to catch our next bus to Thessaloniki.