Only a two-hour ride from the port city of Volos, on the fringe of the flat fertile plains of the Thessaly region of central Greece, the town of Kalambaka lies beneath the spectacular windswept monolithic pillars and rounded rocks of Meteora, also known as the Grand Canyon of Greece, rising abruptly from the flat fields around them. From the early Christian times, the Meteora cliffs were regarded as the perfect place to achieve absolute isolation, protection from unwanted trespassers, discover peace and harmony, and to support man’s eternal struggle for spiritual elevation. Thus, long ago, ascetic hermit monks had developed a religious stronghold in the region where they lived there in solitude in the hollows and fissures of the rocky towers high above the ground.
Then, in the 14th century, the great monk Athanasios Koinovitis arrived with a group of devout followers and, mesmerized by the hermit’s free-climbing skills, joined the communities and built a monastery where the flock could meditate and worship in peace. Built by the monks, it took years and much determination to carry the construction material to the top of the rocks, using ropes, folding ladders, nets and baskets. Over time 24 monasteries were built atop the steep pinnacles, providing protection from the warriors below. Now only six remain, dating from the 14th to the 16th centuries of the Middle Ages, segregated between male monks and female nuns and, as one of the most popular destinations in the country, visitors are welcomed today with typical Greek hospitality.
I visited two of these remaining Orthodox monasteries, each uniquely clinging to a mountaintop. The Monastery of Varlaam, built in 1541, is the second largest in the Meteora complex with its tower and receiving platform, where a rope basket was used to hoist supplies, still overhanging the cliff. Until the 20th century, the only way for visitors to reach Varlaam was to be hoisted up this same route. Today, 195 steps carved into the stone cliff face lead visitors on a winding path to the summit. And while photos are not allowed inside the Monasteries of Meteora, frescoes cover the walls of this main chapel, including a harrowing depiction of the Apocalypse.
Nearby, the Monastery of Roussanou, founded in the 16th century, became a nunnery in 1988 with thirteen in residence since 2015. It is now reached by steep vertical steps and a high, short bridge overlooking a manicured garden at the top. Inside the dark wood-beamed, low-ceilinged chapel, the nuns busy themselves making intricate pebble paintings to be sold as souvenirs.
One could spend days here exploring the monasteries, the isolated abandoned cliff dwellings, and hiking the remarkable natural geography. From the Greek word “meteora”, which means “suspended in air”, the Greeks have a saying, “I’m in Meteora”. It means “I’m up in the air, or ‘I’m in limbo”, and gives cause for reflection here in this precipitous setting. Even if you are not deeply religious, this place is spiritual on many levels, whether for the sheer natural beauty, appreciation for the human will to create it, or it’s representation of the incarnate manifestation of man’s quest to reach heaven…and touch the Divine.