Meteora
Meteora didn't arrive on our travel bucket list through the usual ways like guidebooks or word of mouth or stunning movie scenes. It all began with a record album. Back in 2003, Linkin Park released their second studio album. The album itself was one of the best they've ever released, but what captured my attention was the album title: Meteora. Fascinated by this title, I took to the Internet to find out the origins of this word. A few clicks in, this is what I saw.
The name "Meteora" means to be suspended in air.
The Great Meteoron Monastery is the largest both in size and number of monks it used to have. It once housed around 200 monks while the other monasteries only held 20-30. Nowadays, only a handful of monks remain, and the up keep is done by staff.
The monasteries have been made accessible by paved roads and stairs, but before, guests would arrive by crawling into a net and being hauled up by monks.
St. Barbara's is no longer a monastery as it has been taken by over by nuns. The cave next to it used to be the prison cave where misbehaving monks (seriously, what kind of mischief could monks possibly get into here) would go and spend some solitary confinement.
St. Barbara stands outside the entrance. The Byzantine artwork covering the walls and ceilings of the tiny chapels of all the monasteries is stunning. Unfortunately, no pictures are allowed inside, so this little example will have to do.
The monasteries were built between the 14th and 16th centuries.
Monasteries began on the "shorter" side of a mountain where rickety wooden ladders would be attached to the rock face by hooks. The monks would then clamber up and start building.
24 monasteries once perched on these mountains, now only 6 remain.
Meteora overlooks two towns. The town of Kalistraki is right below, and a half hour's walk away, lies the town of Kalambaka which is a 4.5 hour train ride from Athens.
This area used to be a giant sea bed where sediment and rocks went through a natural cementation process. When the waters receded and the softer soils and rock eroded away, these formations were left behind.
The mountains are still being sculpted by wind and ice shearing.
These caves are formed by wind that scours the side of the mountain and creates mini tornadoes insides the caves which enlarges them further.
A close up into one of the caves. No, it's not someone's laundry. These scarves are offerings to a saint who once healed a woman's husband.
Sweet dreams from Meteora.