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September 2016 – Meteora, Greece
We were coming back home to Romania from a 2-weeks road trip to Greece, and the final stop at Meteora was a must-see on the map.
Ok, seeing the place before in pictures is one thing…but wait until you get there.
It’s one of those feelings that the earth was playing games with the sky. Giant rock fingers rise above the ground, right in the middle of a plain field!
A little bit of History:
Actually the whole place was a delta, formed millions of years ago. The conglomerate formed of mud, sand and pebbles kept getting bigger and bigger over thousands of years, until the lake dried and a tectonic plate movement raised the ground surface. Then… the nature followed its course. So what you see today is a result of wind and water erosion on these giant formations!
To escape from everyday life and find peace, monks built here their sanctuaries to God, starting from the 14th century; 6 out of 24 monasteries can be visited today.
Morning view
You can find a lot of places to stay in Kalambaka or Kastraki, 2 little villages nearby. The place we stayed at and the food were pretty decent, but we came for the adventure, right?
And the morning view. Oh, that breathtaking view…
Steps.Steps.More Steps
Maybe you can visit all the monasteries in one day, if you are ready for a steps-climbing marathon.
Get ready to walk !
Of course, you can get pretty close to each of the monasteries by car, but you cannot avoid the STEPS: hundreds of them.
Walk.Discover
We only had one day here, so we went to the Great Meteoron (meteoro = suspended in the air), the biggest and oldest one of all. The second one by size is Varlaam. Here you can visit the old tower where the monks used a net(!) to climb the huge rock.
The rest of the day we went wandering the village by foot.
After so much climbing, a regular walk felt almost refreshing.
The next day we were finally ready to get home, bearing in our hearts another proof of nature’s greatness and man’s desire to conquer it.
Travel Tips
- The easiest way to get here and explore the area is by car/scooter;
- Wake up early in the morning to avoid crowds;
- Prepare 3 euros/person for each monastery visit;
- Girls have to wear a skirt inside the monastery, but they provide you with one at the entrance.
Happy travels and stay safe!
HaiHui Story 
Your pictures are beautiful! What a stunning place. It wasn’t on my list before but now it most definitely is.
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Thanks so much! The place is stunning,can’t imagine how those monks built the monasteries up on the rocks! 🙂
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Also climbed those stairs many years ago and it was so worth it. You didn’t mention their hand scribing with amazing calligraphy, etc, also found that pretty special.
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Hey, thanks for dropping by 🙂 yeah…you’re right, everything inside was so beautiful…i was really impressed by the story of how the monks built the monasteries, and forgot telling about the manuscripts:)) Cheers!
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What beautiful pictures you brought back and are sharing with us! Can’t wait to see it in summer! So where do you think it”s best to park? And do they charge for parking?:)
Many greetings 🙂
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Aww thank you very much! It is an amazing place, you will be thrilled to see it!!! 🙂 well, about parking, the paths to get to the monasteries are marked on a map, so you’ll know where to go to. And as soon you’ll get closer, you’ll see tens of cars parked on a side of the road. There you have to stop the car, and continue by foot for a few hundred meters. It’s also better to walk around a bit and admire the view. We were’n charged for parking the car, basically because everybody was parking on the road. I heard there were some private parkings near the monasteries, but they are full all the time and very small, we couldn’t get to them. Enjoy! I’m waiting to read your story! 🙂
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How a amazing, thank you for the tour 🙂
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Beautiful blog! Can’t wait to read more! Do you have anything on London? 🙂
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Awww thank you, guys! We’ve been to London many times, but didn’t find a proper title for the story itself :)) so not yet published…i’m actually waiting so have the chance to visit the countryside..to get the complete picture! Inside London, we would recommend London Eye, Westminster Abbey& Westminster Hall, The Parliament &Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Tower of London&Tower Bridge, St James Park, Hyde Park, Regents Park. And if u have the chance to go outside London: Stonehenge, Salisbury,Bath, Oxford,Isle of Wight..Not to mention the amazing landscapes from Scotland or Ireland, but of course it depends on the time u have.
Looking forward to reading about your European adventure! 🙂 Next stop for us is Hungary, then Croatia. So keep in touch!
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Wonderful! Thank you for all the recommendations! We are also thinking of Budapest and Croatia! I’ll for sure keep you posted!
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I would love to spend every morning here! Beautiful pictures!
Cheers, Charu
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It was amazing! And so relaxing watching the giant rocks while having breakfast in the morning 🙂 Thanks for dropping by!
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Yeah, I can imagine 🙂
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