Well, two weekends ago I knocked another World Heritage site off my list of things to see before I leave: the Meteora Monasteries. We left on a Saturday morning and took a bus to Trikala, a small city about a half-hour away from the monasteries. We had lunch and walked around, then hopped back in the bus and drove to Kalambaka, where we would be spending the night. Kalambaka lies at the foot of these massive sandstone rock pillars, which were left behind about 16 million years ago when the sea that had previously submerged them dissapeared. Around the 11th century, some seriously antisocial monks decided that these rock towers would be the perfect place to build monasteries so they could isolate themselves from the outside world. So they did. All of the building materials were carried up by hand, either up ladders or in nets, and slowly, piece by piece, these monks built the fantastically beautiful structures that stand today, which look like they emerged from the rocks whole. Driving from Trikala, we could see vauge outlines, but it wasn’t until we were driving into Kalambaka that we could really tell how awesome they were.
Saturday we hung around Kalambaka, took dozens of pictures of the rocks and had some “mexican” food, and watched movies with Greek subtitles. Sunday, we got up early and headed up to the first monastery, which was actually a nunnery called St. Stephanos. We walked around the grounds and got to visit the chapel, which was breathtaking. In the narthex, every surface was covered with frescoes depicting the martyrdom of various Orthodox saints, which were gruesome, but beautifully done. The inside of the chapel itself was also covered in frescoes, with a beautiful hand-carved screen featuring mosaics of Jesus and Mary made of precious stones and materials, as well as a giant chandelier made of silver and gold. We couldn’t take pictures, but it’s something I’ll never forget. At St. Stephanos, we also visited a museum dedicated to some of the modern-day saints, who were martyred during the Turkish occupation. Seeing the frescoes and reading the descriptions of how they were killed gave me a little more insight into why the Greeks dislike the Turks so much. It was kind of nauseating.
We then moved on to Great Meteoran, the biggest monastery and the one that attracts the most visitors. After trekking up like a million steps (it was only like 300-something, but we kept getting stuck behind large groups of slow-moving elderly people). It was much like St. Stephanos, but with more museums and older frescoes. The only thing I could have asked for was more time to just stand around and take in all of the details.
After descending the rocks (which is not fun in a big tour bus), we headed back to Kalambaka, had lunch (and some of the best sorbet ever), we headed back to Thessaloniki. Another great trip– something that I wouldn’t miss if you are planning on coming to Greece anytime soon.
