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Greece: Vacation time, Day 8: Meteora

Time for annual leave has come and with Nada we decided to have a motorbike trip, starting in Slovenia and ending on Crete in Greece. On our way we decided to spend some time with our friends in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and in Greece.

Time flies and we have been on the road for 8 days. In the morning Nicoletta prepared a great breakfast for us and soon we said goodbye to each other. Thanks a lot for an all inclusive package.

We left Thessaloniki and escaped the city on a motorway. Later on we switched to normal roads and soon we were at the door of Meteora.

The Meteora is a rock formation in central Greece hosting one of the largest and most precipitously built complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries, second in importance only to Mount Athos. The six monasteries are built on immense natural pillars and hill-like rounded boulders that dominate the local area. It is located near the town of Kalabaka at the northwestern edge of the Plain of Thessaly near the Pineios river and Pindus Mountains.

We visited 2 monasteries and enjoyed the amazing rock formations, but since we still had many kilometres ahead of us, we had to leave some attractions and plans for the next visit.

In the evening we arrived to Port of Piraeus, where we boarded the overnight ship to Crete.

Previous days of our vacation: Day 7, Day 6, Day 5, Day 4, Day 3, Day 2, Day 1.

 

Roads, roads, roads

 

Caves in the vicinity of Meteora were inhabited continuously between 50,000 and 5,000 years ago. In one of them we found a geocache.

 

As early as the 11th century, monks occupied the caverns of Meteora. However, monasteries were not built until the 14th century, when the monks sought somewhere to hide in the face of an increasing number of Turkish attacks on Greece.

  

Church in Kastraki village

Blue Horse and Thunder in Meteora

 

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". Until the 17th century, the primary means of conveying goods and people from these eyries was by means of baskets and ropes.

 

At their peak in the sixteenth century there were 24 monasteries at Meteora. Today there are six still functioning, while the remainder are largely in ruin. Of the six functioning monasteries, the Holy Monastery of St. Stephen and the Holy Monastery of Roussanou are inhabited by nuns while the remainder are inhabited by monks. The total monastic population of the Meteora monasteries in 2015 was 56, comprising 15 monks in four monasteries and 41 nuns in two monasteries.

 

Our first monastery we visited was the Varlaam Monastery. In 1350, an ascetic monk named Varlaam climbed this great rock and settled at the top. He built three churches, a cell for himself and a water tank. No one chose to follow his lead, so after his death the site was abandoned. The buildings fell into ruin for almost 200 years until 1517, when two rich priest-monks, Theophanes and Nektarios Apsarades from Ioanina, ascended the rock and founded a monastery. According to legend, they had to drive away the monster who lived in a cave on the summit before they could move in. Click for more.

The Great Meteoron (a.k.a. Monastery of the Transfiguration of Christ) is the highest, largest and oldest of the six monasteries of the Meteora. Founded in the 14th century by a monk from Mount Athos, the Great Meteoron is still impressive and important today. Platýs Líthos ("Broad Rock"), the rock on which the Great Meteoron stands, rises over 615m above sea level. Click for more.

Panoramic view at monastery Varlaam

 

Perched onto high cliffs, the monasteries are now accessible by staircases and pathways cut into the rock formations.

Meteora is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Meteora is a popular rock-climbing site, with people coming from all around the world to reach the top.

Made famous by James Bond (For Your Eyes Only), Agia Triada (also Ayías Triádhos, Ayia Triada or Aghia Triada; "Holy Trinity") is probably the most dramatically positioned monastery of the Meteora. Click for more.

 

Blue Galaxy took us to Crete for 56 € / (person + motorbike)

Enjoying my new flip-flops

Goodbye mainland

Last long ride from Thessaloniki to Piraeus harbour with a little more than 620 kilometres

GeoCaches found:
- Meteora Treasures #1, GC6A45N, where I dropped off trackable item "Travel Bug Dog Tag", TB6F874
- Meteora Treasures #2, GC6A44Y
- Rocks of Meteora, EarthCache, GC2M15Y
- Fingers of Giants - Meteora Earthcache, EarthCache, GC2F643