Meteora

Oh man, I saved the best for last; what a beauty this place is!  The word 'meteora' means ''suspended in the heavens'', a perfect way to describe the 6 monasteries that are built on the precipitous edges of these sandstone cliffs. Most of them were built in the 11th or 12th century AD and were deliberately difficult to access, for security and devotional reasons (wanting to test the monks' resolve??)  Until stone stairs were carved out in the 1920s, all monks and goods were hauled up using rope ladders or nets/baskets -- keep in mind that buildings are perched at least 313 meters high (that's 1,027 feet for my American/British friends)! When asked how often the rope ladders needed replacing, one monk replied, ''When the Good Lord lets them break''.  Gulp. 

The Monastery of Holy Trinity, perched high on a cliff. There's a cable (you can see it at the left of the photo) that provides goods, but it's not strong enough to hold a person's weight. So, all visitors and residents (about 10 monks) must climb the steep stone stairs that lead up to the top. Built in 1475.

Town of Kalambaka, where we stayed overnight

St. Stephen's Monastery (erected in 1545).

Monastery of Saint Barbara, erected in 1560.

The Holy Monastery of Great Meteoron, built in mid-14th century. This is the largest of all buildings in Meteora. The church inside is called the Katholikon (yes, Greeks gave us the word ''Catholic'', which means 'universal').

Holy Monastery of Varlaam, the second-largest building.  Erected in 1541. You can see Saint Barbara in the distance.

Wow, tomorrow I leave Greece already!  I've been here a month and loved (almost) every minute of it. Greece is at once intensely charming and somewhat frustrating; I will explain in one last blog before moving onto Moroccan. Thanks for tagging along with me! xx