Sunday, August 23rd - Meteora

Meteora is a city in central Greece (region of Thessaly), which luckily was on my way up to Thessaloniki. The names root in Greek is the same as that of the English word “Meteor,” meaning suspended in air. As is evidence from the photos, this is one of the most incredible scenic places I’ve ever been. I stayed in a town called Kalambaka, which is a village at the foothills of the mountains, (in fact the view from my balcony was directly up to the rocks).

I had decided to embark on my journey the way monks and pilgrims of the past would have… up the footpaths all the way to the top where there is now a road. I was out of my hotel by 8am and began searching for the beginning of the path. My motto for this trail was to always take the higher path. Great philosophical advice of course, but not always the case when heading up into unique rock formations like these! Lonely Planet guide wasn’t exactly detailed enough to show me exactly where I needed to go and as a result I began to make my way up unguided. At the time I didn’t appreciate the prickly brush and steep slopes, but the end result was more rewarding than I could have hoped for. At the top of this footpath (which was not an official footpath judging by the laid rock I walked on the way down) were quite possibly the most beautiful vista’s I’ve ever seen. I felt as though everywhere I looked and from any angle there was a beautiful picture, and a moment of peace.

At the top of these hundreds of meter tall rock formations are monasteries dating from as early as the 14th century! There are six complexes that are open to the public, and I visited five of them in the one day before hiking back down. Though I climbed up each via the stairs that have been carved into the rock, all of their physical connection with the outside world occurred through a basket that was brought up by a rope and pulley system! Legend has it that when tourists would ask the monks how often they change the ropes they would reply, “Whenever the good-Lord allows them to break,”!!! Now I haven’t heard of any deaths during visits, but what I have many of the baskets still function as an easy way to hoist large loads of goods up to the monasteries.

Their position has proved very effective throughout the history of the region because of their ultimate location in the landscape. During the Ottoman empires control of the area we know as Greece, the monasteries were spared by attack. The same can be said during the world wars and Balkan War as well, which in the end has saved an incredible amount of the early complexes in tact (with renovations of course) and their important documents and icons spared from looting.











As I walked to each monastery and back down again to Kalambaka (which I’ve estimated to be 10+ miles), I watched the tour buses drive by me. I wonder if they feel the same way about this site as I do. Do they understand what it would have been like for monks or even opposing armed forces to climb these slopes? Do they realize that everywhere you look and from every position on the mountain, there a beautiful vista that is unlike the one you just saw? I could have spent days walking around this place snapping photos and drawing, but unfortunately in this case I didn’t have the time. I’m starting to wonder, however, what influence the mode of transportation in which you are experiencing things can have on your perception of a place. The lens of a pedestrian is through a slow, fine, microscope in which all of their senses are picking up on the things around them and in places that all others can’t access. The lens of a personal vehicle is one with far more capabilities because of its speed and versatility but blurs the vision because of these attributes. A tour bus is a selective view point that sets up an image for you but tends to bring them to the viewer in an incredibly easy way. I am not saying that any of these area wrong. I am blessed to have athletic capabilities at the moment which I may not have in the not so distant future, but its something that I have been dealing with myself. I feel that I am more in tune with a site when I am able to set up my own views and explore new things. I hope one day to follow up on the biking tour that I spoke about in an earlier post, or at the very least rent a car rather than take a bus from point to point, allowing me to stop and explore things that I may not have set out to do originally. This part of the journey is what teaches me most.

For those of you that were wondering, I narrowly escaped the fire that’s currently ravaging the forests north of Athens! I didn’t even realize there was an issue until I got to Thessaloniki, but am safe and sound here. Hopefully, they get the fires under control so no further damage is done.