Was That a Meteora I Just Saw in the Sky?

 “Enjoy life. There’s plenty of time to be dead.” 

― Hans Christian Andersen

Go-Date: Day 13. Feb 4

Lesson Learned: Winter in Greece is about like winter in Charleston, SC. At least in Athens and south (except in the mountains). There is snow in the mountains, but a blizzard to them is like a foot plus that may last about a week unless you are north or at a high altitude. Hell, even winter in North Greece sounds like Alexandria, VA. Its February and they call it Spring….the oranges and lemons are being harvested. A typical day is lows of 10 (50) and a high of 17 (63).

Regrets: I wish I were multi-lingual. Everyone here speaks two, three or four languages. Americans are so isolated. We should be more global and insist in second language classes in school from an early age. I keep trying, but I suck. Kalimera (Good Morning). Hell, we have no excuse for not speaking Spanish well.

Push off into the Mountains

As soon as I could straighten my back (lousy bed in Delphi) we loaded up and headed to Meteora (town of Kalabaka). Our Delphi host was waiting for us at the front door (not to help us with the luggage just so he could put his plastic patio chair back in the spot we parked last night.) Off we go!

For about 10 kilometers it was twist, turn, hairpin, steep grade, but then we ended up on a divided highway that was as good as anything we’ve seen in the states. I’ll say again, go, drive, enjoy a road trip in Greece.

Maybe the Greek gods like us, not 20 klicks out of town it began to rain, which turned into slush, then a full-on snow storm. It was beginning to get slippery, and cars coming from other mountain towns were covered with snow……not a good sign. But then, the one good thing about this drive were the tunnels. Lots of them. Over a dozen of them, ranging from a hundred meters up to well over a mile ( 1.6 kilometers to the mile). This straightened out the road and kept our speed to over 100 kph as we dropped like a rock in altitude, and with the meters we lost in altitude we quickly lost the snow.

Castles in the Sky

We had no reservations in Kalabaka. What we did have was our little Vodafone Mi-Fi which allowed us to search Booking.com for potential lodging and then to drive over, take a look and make a decision. We considered dozens and drove up to 4 hotels before we picked Hotel Theatro Odysseon. Nice, clean, renovated, with theme rooms. We picked a deluxe room (Zorba the Greek) and spent the night with Anthony Quin while he danced on the beach. Great bed (thank you) huge balcony  with a view of the town and one of the monasteries and only a short walk to café’s down the street. We really enjoyed this place for two nights. It was more expensive than we normally spend (75 Euros a night) but that did include a fabulous breakfast, but to be honest our backs needed the rest and that was the most important factor in our choice. Of course, we did fork out an extra 10 Euros for the view. It was amazing.

Amazing is what we’ll call this place! Meteora, besides being a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is something to behold. It really opened our eyes to the lengths ancient man would go to promote and worship his deity.

So, here’s the story (according to Wikipedia). 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 (Northern Greece). The six (of an original twenty four) monasteries are built on immense natural pillars and hill-like rounded boulders that dominate the local area. It is located near the town of Kalambaka at the northwestern edge of the Plain of Thessaly near the Pineios river and Pindus Mountains. Meteora is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List under criteria I, II, IV, V and VII (my criteria is this place is mind-boggling). The name means “lofty”, “elevated”, and is etymologically related to meteor (I hope you enjoyed you Bill Nye the Science Guy moment).

Here are the monasteries we visited in the order we came to them by road:

• Monastery of St. Nicholas Anapausas
• Monastery of Rousanou (Nunnery)
• Monastery of Varlaam
• Great Meteoron Monastery 
• Monastery of the Holy Trinity
• Monastery of St. Stephen

More down to earth….. the caves in Kalambaka have been inhabited continuously between 50,000 and 5,000 years ago. It’s a great place to hide or hang out if you are into cave living or need to avoid wolves or Ottomans or bandits or aluminum window salesmen.  So, along comes a bunch of ascetic-type hermit monks who, in the 9th century AD, moved up to the ancient penthouse caves. They lived as high up on the rocks as 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. But, all good things must pass. These rocks became high-rent for monks and a housing crisis arose.

As early as the 11th century, groups of monks began to occupy the caverns of Meteora. However, due to monk migration, monasteries were begun to be built in the 12th century, when the monks sought somewhere to hide in the face of an increasing number of Turkish attacks on Greece and found that low-rent condos on the valley floor came with extremely high deductibles for Pillage Insurance. At this time, access to the top was via removable ladders or windlass. Otis was still seeking elevator franchise opportunities in Central Greece until well into the 16^th century.

The exact date of the establishment of the monasteries is unknown. By the late 11th and early 12th centuries, a rudimentary monastic state had formed called the Sketeof Stagoi who set up basic condo associations which encouraged home improvement and bee keeping. The rapid monk movement was centered around the still-standing church of Theotokos (mother of God) and affordable bee boxes located close to the rope ladders. By the end of the 12th century, a large ascetic community had flocked to Meteora. Flocked meaning that they brought lots of sheep and goats with them. Construction flourished as condo demand increased over the next two centuries.

In 1344, Athanasios Koinovitis (real estate mover and shaker) from Mount Athos brought a group of followers to Meteora. From 1356 to 1372, he founded the great Meteoron monastery on the Broad Rock (pre-cursor to Church on The Rock), which was perfect for the monks; they were safe from political upheaval and had complete control of the entry to the monastery. The only means of reaching it was by climbing a long ladder, which was drawn up whenever the monks felt threatened. They also had bingo on Thursday nights.

From then, other monasteries were to follow.

Ellen and I had a blast here. I can’t understate how impressive these monasteries are, and how dedicated these monks were to accomplish such amazing fetes of architecture and construction. I’ve always wanted to see them since the James Bond movie “For Your Eyes Only” and only when I witnessed them in person did I realize how under exposed they were in the movie. Marvelous structures.

I’m happy we came in the low season (even if one of the monasteries was closed for the month) because I can see how massive the crowds are in the summers. Everyone, come see this stuff, it defies description and photos don’t do it justice.

Ellen says its her favorite site in Greece.