Meteora is also an album by the band Linkin Park. See Meteora (album).
Steps up to the Varlaam monastery
The Meteora (Greek: Μετέωρα, "levitating") are monasteries in north-east Greece, built on spectacular natural rock pillars. They were started in the 15th century as places of refuge in troubled times and access to them was extremely difficult, requiring either long ladders lashed together or a windlass and rope pulling up a net, for goods and humans.
The Varlaam monastery on its rock pedestal.
In about the 1920s there was an improvement in the arrangements. Steps were cut in the rock that could be reached by rather flimsy bridges from the nearest solid rock. It is difficult to imagine how the monasteries were built on their pinnacles in the first place. Only a few of them are left now, tended by a few monks and nuns and visited by many tourists.
The Agia Triada or Holy Trinity monastery was used in the final scenes of the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only.
The monastery Agiou Stephanou (Holy Stephen's) is inhabited by nuns only.
The monasteries are included in the UNESCO "World Heritage sites" list.
External links
Greek Travel page (http://www.greecetravel.com/meteora/monasteries.html) with brief profiles and pictures of each monastery.
A local site (http://www.meteora-greece.com) with information on the monasteries and area.
The area of Meteora was originally settled by monks who lived in caves within the rocks during the 11th Century.
Meteora is also a great place to go rock climbing and Trekking Hellas has a rock climbing school for beginners as well as programs in the area for beginners and advanced climbers.
The village of Kastraki in the shade of the rocks of Meteora is a popular destination for the rock climbers who can walk out the door of their hotel and be climbing in a few minutes.
There were no steps and the main access to the monasteries was by means of a net that was hitched over a hook and hoisted up by rope and a hand cranked windlass to winch towers overhanging the chasm.
By the 18th century, Meteora had become a refuge center for Greeks escaping the increasingly harsh administration and taxation of the Ottoman overlords as well as a hideout of the klephts, rebel warriors who harassed the Turks and participated in the fight for independence in the 19th century.
The Monasteries of Meteora may be visited year round but the weather is wet and cool from December to March.
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