This past weekend, I took a trip to see Meteora which I know I will never forget. In my own words, Meteora is a rock-like formation located in the upper-middle region of Greece. Right underneath the formation is where the village of Kalabaka is located. Meteora is one of the World Heritage Sites and there are six monasteries still standing on the rocks today.
When we heard the debate tournament was cancelled this past weekend, Carly and I immediately booked our train tickets to Kalabaka. We left early Saturday and returned late Sunday, which surprisingly gave us enough time to see all six monasteries! We went inside three of them and then saw the other three from a distance.
Our first day was spent hiking up the trail which was a 45 minute hike.
The first monastery we explored was the Holy Trinity Monastery, which was my favorite monastery of the whole trip. There weren't many other tourists by the time we arrived so we had the whole monastery to ourselves to explore. I was in-awe at how the monasteries would have been built and the love the people had for God. While I was there, I heard that the monks originally built twenty-four monasteries on top of the rocks so that they could be closer to God. Since then, only six of the monasteries are still standing. I was continually left in a state of awe throughout my time there. After seeing this monastery from the inside, we went to view St. Stephen's Monastery. We finished the day with a hike down the trail and dinner at a taverna in the square.
The next day, we decided to take a taxi up to the top where the monasteries were and were able to see the remaining four monasteries.
The first one we saw was the Great Meteoron Monastery, which we went inside of. This one was absolutely gorgeous and was the biggest monastery we entered by far. It seemed to have many elements of a museum, explaining many of the artifacts in the monastery. While it was a very informative experience, it wasn't as majestic as the Holy Trinity Monastery.
There were many tours going on inside of the monastery, which is what impacted our choice of the next monastery to visit. The Varlaam Monastery also had many tour groups outside of the building so instead, we headed to Roussanou Monastery. On our way to the monastery, we caught glimpses of St. Nikolaos Anapafsas Monastery. This was by far the most difficult monastery to get to and so we only saw it from a distance.
The Roussanou Monastery was also very unique, being the only female run monastery of the six. It was also the most evident that nuns still lived inside the monastery since the nuns were also working inside, most of the monastery was sectioned off, and no photographs were allowed. After exploring this monastery, we decided it was time to head back into town.
We hitch-hiked for the SECOND time from the monastery back into town. Yes, I did say twice. I forgot to mention earlier that two young men drove us from the Varlaam Monastery to the Roussanou Monastery. Our second set of drivers was a couple from Berlin, the man being originally from Greece. It surprised me how friendly and kind everyone seemed to be in this magical area. I am wondering if this was at all impacted by the feelings experienced when visiting a place so historic, so magical, and so religious/spiritual.
Carly and I finished the day by finding a field of grass below the rock-like formations and tanned. It was a very relaxing way to end the weekend. After that, we headed back into town and enjoyed another taverna meal before going to the train station.