Day 5 - Meteora and onto Delphi

Monday we toured two of the six Monasteries that are in Meteora. The Monday after Easter (Pascha) is a holiday in Greece so many of the Greek people also visit the Monasteries.  

As we drove to the small town of Kalabaka the rock formations on which the Monasteries sit create an amazing vista behind the town. 

We stopped in Kalabaka and picked up our 'local specialist', Dina, and started the climb up to the Monasteries. The highest monastery is at about 550 meters, or 1800 feet in elevation. 

The monasteries were built upon majestic pillars of stone during the 13th and 14th centuries. There are six remaining of the 24 that were established upon the rocks. There are 6 remaining in operation today with 4 being for monks and 2 now occupied by nuns. 

There is now a road from Kalabaka that gives access to the Monasteries. From the parking areas you can take walking paths and stairs to reach the Monasteries, some are easier than others. As you climb the road the views will make you want to stop, Christos slowed so we could take pictures out the window since it is a narrow road and we had to keep moving. 

We first visited The Monastery of Varlaam which is home to about 30 monks at this time. It was a cool, overcast day with light rain but there was little fog and the crowds were very light.

We were able to access it via a nice path and stairs, for hundreds of years the monks used a manual winch with cables to get up and down. We watched a video taken in 1924 of a monk being hoisted to the Monastery, it was a scary process. 

To enter there is a dress code that requires men to wear long pants and women to have a skirt below their knees. At the entrance they will loan the women a skirt if needed....very attractive.

The views from the Monastery are truly breathtaking and other Monasteries are visible.

We found the monks wine barrel from the 15th century, it was 12,000 liters or over 3000 gallons. Those monks did not want to run out of wine. 

As we headed to our next monastery we made a stop to take a picture of The Monastery of the Holy Trinity, that was in the James Bond film 'For Your Eyes Only'. It is a spectacular view. Our tour guide, Nadine, is on the right. 

It is easy to see why the movie company picked The Monastery of the Holy Trinity to film such an iconic movie. The monasteries do look like they are suspended in the air. We think this area inspired some of the scenes in the movie Avatar.

We continued on to our next stop, St. Stephen's Holy Monastery. This monastery is now operated by nuns and is fairly new construction since it was heavily bombed in World War II. The chapel is being painted to tell the story of the bible which has been underway for the last 30 years and is being done by the same person.  It is truly magnificent but no pictures are allowed in the chapel .

Approaching it from the road St. Stephen's is beautiful.

St. Stephen's is the closest Monastery to Kalabaka and provides spectacular views of the town. 

We drove by other Monasteries we did not visit, maybe next time. 

People often say "pictures do not due it justice", it really does apply in this case. The views are amazing everywhere you look, it is understandable why the monks who settled here over 500 years ago felt they would be closer to god. If you get the chance, visit Meteora, it is one of those experiences that must be done in person. 

This is Dina our local specialist, she did a great job educating us on the Greek Orthodox religion and how the monasteries tell the story. It would be very hard to grasp much of what we saw without someone like her to explain it. Since it was still a holy week often during the tour, members of the Greek community would come into the chapel and pay their respects to the relics of the saints, the icons (paintings on wood that are portable) and paintings on the walls.

After visiting the Monasteries we headed for lunch in Kalabaka where we bid good bye to Dina. 

Even the view from our lunch stop was amazing.  

After lunch we drove across some seriously rugged mountains to Delphi. The scenery was just beautiful. As we came over the mountains we could see the Bay of Corinth with the olive trees in the valley.

We climbed back up the mountains a bit to our rest stop for the evening in the village of Delphi. We have great views from our rooms of the Bay of Corinth. 

We walked the streets of Delphi, there are only a few, to stretch our legs. Delphi is built on the side of a mountain and has gorgeous vistas overlooking the valley. 

We had dinner at a restaurant Nadine recommended and sat out on the street. We had yet to try a real Greek Gyro so we all ordered one with the local beer 'Fix'.  The Gyro's did not disappoint and the people at the restaurant were very friendly. After our meal they came out with a dessert drink, mastichato, which Nadine tells us comes from a particular island and is made from tree resin.  

It was a nice day, today we plan to tour Delphi some more and then head on to Olympia.