I had seen photos of this place, so I was prepared for it. Or so I thought! Oh wow! It was amazing! The first thing we had pointed out to us when we arrived in town. wait, back up. short story. On the final bus into town the woman who was taking the money asked where we needed to go. Then she asked a man in the back of the bus if he knew of our hotel. He did. He called them to tell them to meet us at the bus stop to get our luggage there. The owner's wife said he was not there with the car so she could not come get us. Now, we had not even expected a ride from the bus stop, but we thought it was nice of this man to jump in and try to get us one. So instead, he got off the bus when we did, and since his home was in the direction of our hotel, he walked us most of the way there. So friendly and treating us as if we were the first visitors to his town. So proud to show us the side of the mountain and tell us what is was about. now back to the photo. Every April they have a festival of St. George, at the end of the church service the youth of the town climb this rock and remove last years scarves and replace them with new ones. They are for wishes for good health.
We took a local bus to the top of the mountains and walked the road to see all of the monasteries on the rocks. I only actually went inside one.
Such incredible stuff just thinking about how they were built way up there. Even today it would be a feat. They were built by monks sometime around the 11th and 12th century, but there are remains that date back way before that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteora is full of information about them if you want to know more.
Below is the one that I went into. There is a strict dress code at all of them, one would not even allow women in. I had on shorts and a sleeveless top, but used my sweater and they hand out wrap around skirts for the women to enter.
It is a tiny chapel and crammed with people, you can hardly move. I took this photo from my hip, without actually aiming at anything but the ceiling. I was sure the man in front of me was going to block the whole thing. Pictures are not supposed to be taken and I think it is because it would take forever to move the crowds through if we all stopped to shoot and pose. I just took one, just in case they noticed, I didn't want to get in trouble. I would not have tried it if there was a worship service going on.
Yep, I climbed all those stairs to get up to it...and crossed a bridge!
They have gondolas to get supplies to the monasteries.
Here is another way they get supplies up to the monasteries
This is my favorite one.
The road that goes between them.
Down below, near the town are some remains of ancient places that the monks lived before the ones on the pinnacles were built.
Sunset from the town.
Stars from our deck.
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