Cruising The Med - Sandy and Rob's Excellent Adventure

Precariously perched on the top of an interesting set of rocks that look like fingers emerging from the earth are Meteora's famous Monasteries.

Apparently there were close to 30 monasteries at one time but there are 5 that have been carefully maintained and available for all to visit and take in the scenery from their places at the top of these rocks.

There are also a series of caves where the Monks also lived prior to building the Monasteries.

We stayed in Kalampaka, a town just a few minutes away and we enjoyed looking at the rocks as we sipped capuccinos and had a little breakfast before setting out to explore the area.

We passed by the first Monastery, St. Nickaulaus which was closed so we pressed on to St. Barbara.

After climbing a set of stairs that look like they are not more than 10 years old, we met a wooden bridge that led us across to St. Barbara. The views are amazing and the courtyard with its gardens serene.

It is 3 Euros to enter and the nuns take our money as they instruct myself and other women to borrow a skirt as pants on women are not allowed. (It is quite a look!)

After descending back to the car we tripped up the road to Great Meteora, the largest and most interesting of the group.

I climbed down a set of stairs and up the other side to the entrance.

This was interesting. I climbed around and found an old kitchen, courtyard, and room of skulls.

Yes, skulls. Apparently, it was sacred to preserve the monk's skulls after their death and they are on display. I was surprised as photos were forbidden in most of the areas but not the skull room?

The real thrill of Meteora is looking at these places from afar and wondering how the monks got to the top of these tall skinny rock formations!

Looking at the Rock Formations from the streets of Kalampaka

This is Greek Coffee Being Prepared at the Cafe where we had breakfast.... It takes 2 minutes boiling - Bunsen Burner Coffee!!

Map of Meteora - The Labels are tough to read but it gives a good overall picture of the area

5 km outside of Meteora, we spot these bizarre looking caves

These were occupied as early as 5 Millenia ago by the first Monks in the Area

Our First Impression of these tall finger like rock formations

Saint Nicholas Monastery

This really shows how this area feels to be there.... Wow!!!

I climbed up a trail to take this picture of St. Barbara below

The courtyard at St. Barbara - Beautiful Gardens Looking Down from the Monastary

Inside St. Barbara - One of my favourite photos of the day

Inside the church at St. Barbara (I was not supposed to take this but I did anyway)

Great perspective from here! (Santa Barbara with St. Nicholas in the background and Great Meteora on the Top RIght

Path climbing up from St. Barbara to a Lookout

Forest Flowers

Looking across to Varlaam on the right (which was closed today) and Great Meteora to the left

Ready to decscend these stairs and several others, go accross a bridge and up the other side to Great Meteora

Great Meteora

Almost there!

Entrance to Great Meteora

View across Meteora to the farm fields

The old kitchen...

Quite the cauldron!

Dining Hall

Table in the Dining Hall

Ceiling Inside the Dining Hall

Courtyard at Great Meteora

Decorations in the Stone Work

Gryffin with the Monastery Bell in the Back

Just outside the museum at the Monastary

I saw this tiny door and look what I found inside!

Did someone say 'Let's put our heads together...'?

I don't know why the leg bones are all together at the bottom?

Looking up from the Courtyard to the Top of the Church

It wouldn't be real if I didn't show the gift shop!

Ancient Canteens

This was a staircase... I was surprised I was allowed to go down it in this condition

They built very short doors...

This is the 'windlass' a set of gears and machines used to haul goods up and down the shear face of the rock to the Monastery

Holy Water?

This is a view to the ledge where the goods would be lowered (and raised) by the windlass system

Tunnel on the way down

More great views

Our Rental Car with St. Stephanos in the background as we leave Meteora and descend down

This is Vralaam which was closed but really dramatic

See that wire? Today, they use a cable car to get the goods across rather than the ancient windlass.

As a note, the nuns at St. Barbara still use the windlass with a wire and a basket. One of the priests was once asked how often they change the ropes/wires and he answered, 'Only When They Break'.

One Last Shot and Memory of Meteora

Labels: Caves, Great Meteora, Meteora, St. Barbara, St. Nicholas, Varlaam, Windlass

Well, this was an adventure all its own.

We took some crazy roads that led us on switchbacks and through small farming villages across the country.

It took us through mountains and back into valleys. The trip took almost 5 hours with the back road tour and stopping to enjoy some of the scenery and take some good photos for the blog.

We were most surprised when we drove through the agriculture areas to see endless fields of cotton growing.

Most of it had just been harvested and the roads were littered with soft cotton caught in the trees and grasses on the edges of the highways.

I did some homework and Greece is the 10th largest producer of raw cotton in the world. Who knew?

We also spotted fields of pomegranates which was really neat to see how they grow.

Of course, we saw many flocks of sheep and herds of goats. They have bells which ring as they graze and make a wonderful sound.

We were getting close to our destination passing through a city called Trikala. I noticed some school children at the side of the road with Greek flags. This caught my attention and I noticed a girl in a white outfit with Olympic Rings.

We had found part of the Olympic Torch Run from Greece to Sochi.

We parked the car and 20 minutes later we were able to watch the torch be passed from one runner to the next.

Amazing Luck and an exciting end to our day.

Up in the Clouds Leaving Delphi

Pomegranate Tree!

Pomegranates - They were growing individually as well as in these clusters

Mountain Lake with Damn - We were quite high in the mountains here

Mountain Cows - The one by the Stop Sign refused to Move for us!

Cotton Field - One of the Last to be Picked for the Season

Cotton bursting from its Pods

They were like Puffy Flowers...

Olympic Torch Runner - She is on the Greek National Olympic Math Team and was chosen to participate for her brain as opposed to her braun which she told me was very strange