Greek trip, June 17
Today, after prayers, breakfast, and a re-loading of all our suitcases, we were off to the Meteora. The monasteries of the Meteora are one of the great sites of mainland Greece. These extraordinary buildings, perched on seemingly inaccessible pinnacles of rock, occupy a valley just north of the town of Kalambaka. The name "meteora" means literally "rocks in the air." Arriving at the town, the eye is drawn in a vertical ascent to the top of the rocks. There had been a prehistoric sea here that had covered the Plain of Thessaly around 30,000,000 years ago.
The difficulty of access and building are hard to overstate. In a German guide oublished for rock climbers, almost all of the Meteora routes are listed as advanced, even with modern high-tech climbing gear.
The earliest religious communities appeared in the late 10th c., when groups of hermits made their homes in the caves that score many of the rocks. Eventually monasteries were begun, often under royal patronage, and at one point in time there were 24 of them. Now only 6 remain. We visited two of them--Varlaam and St. Stephen's, a nunnery. Interiors of the small churches had prominent naves with gruesome paintings depicting martyrdom and relegation to hell of the evil ones--all done to instruct those people who could not read. Then by the time you hit the main body of the church, realism has given way to symbolism, and saints are pictured carrying crosses and wearing an air of otherworldliness. I bought a CD before leaving of Greek Orthdox chanting to assist me in remembering the spirit of this holy place. By the way, for anyone interested, the Meteora was featured in James Bond's movie "For Your Eyes Only."
After our tours it was time for lunch, so we returned to Kalambaka and ate at a restaurant owned by a family, whose 80+year old mother was still cooking. She invited us into her kitchen, and I had the most scrumptious lamb and eggplant. Dessert was an incredible watermelon.
After lunch we got on the bus and proceeded to drive for about 4 1/2 hours to Athens, where we arrived at about 7:00 p.m. Tomorrow, off to Corinth!
The difficulty of access and building are hard to overstate. In a German guide oublished for rock climbers, almost all of the Meteora routes are listed as advanced, even with modern high-tech climbing gear.
The earliest religious communities appeared in the late 10th c., when groups of hermits made their homes in the caves that score many of the rocks. Eventually monasteries were begun, often under royal patronage, and at one point in time there were 24 of them. Now only 6 remain. We visited two of them--Varlaam and St. Stephen's, a nunnery. Interiors of the small churches had prominent naves with gruesome paintings depicting martyrdom and relegation to hell of the evil ones--all done to instruct those people who could not read. Then by the time you hit the main body of the church, realism has given way to symbolism, and saints are pictured carrying crosses and wearing an air of otherworldliness. I bought a CD before leaving of Greek Orthdox chanting to assist me in remembering the spirit of this holy place. By the way, for anyone interested, the Meteora was featured in James Bond's movie "For Your Eyes Only."
After our tours it was time for lunch, so we returned to Kalambaka and ate at a restaurant owned by a family, whose 80+year old mother was still cooking. She invited us into her kitchen, and I had the most scrumptious lamb and eggplant. Dessert was an incredible watermelon.
After lunch we got on the bus and proceeded to drive for about 4 1/2 hours to Athens, where we arrived at about 7:00 p.m. Tomorrow, off to Corinth!
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