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From Vergina we continued our way to Kastraki near Meteora, were we had booked the Dream Nest Meteora appartement. We parked on the private parking and were welcomed by the owner, who openend the door for us. In any other case you can find the key in te key holder. The appartement is beautiful with a fully equipped kitchen and a living corner, an outdoor seating area overlooking the rock formation and the village. In the appartement a bottle of wine, a bottle of lemonade and a fruit basket welcomes the visitor.

We had dinner at the beautiful elevated back terrace of the Batalogianni Zoi  Restaurant with a great view of the Meteora rock formations. Meteora means ‘suspended in the air’. We had 4 mezzes to share, and the dolmades are a specialty here served in a lemon sabayon cream. After dinner we drove op to Meteora, for the sunset. The sun was hidden behind the clouds, but the view was spectacular nonetheless. There are two lookout points above the Rousanos monastery where you are obviously not alone. 

In the morning we walked to the bakery, there are two bakeries in the centre of Kastrika, we bought cream pies in Kritsa bakery and cheese and spinach pie in the bakery on the middle of the road, and had breakfast in our appartement, where we had coffee and tea. We drove up to Great Meteoron monastery by what we thought was opening time, but the monastery only opened at 9u30 AM, so we parked our car at on the parking area of the Great Meteoron monastery and walked down to Varlaam monastery which opened at 9 AM. There was already a long queue in front of the entrance, many busses had already unloaded their visitors, so we waited until most of the crowds had left the intimate church, after which we had the church all to ourselves. The wall fresco’s in the church are quite impressive. In the monastery you can still see how they used to haul up goods to the monastery. There is a small museum with some beautiful old manuscripts. The monastery of Varlaam is named after the monk who first built a tiny chapel on the cape of the cliff in the 14th century. According to the story, in 1350 the ascetic monk rose and settled on the very top of this rock. He built a church which he dedicated to the Three Saints, a cell for himself and a tank for water. But no one else followed his example, and after the death of Varlaam this place was abandoned. For 200 years of oblivion everything turned into ruins, and in 1517 the two rich brother priest-monks Feofan and Nektarios from Ioannina climbed to the top and found the monastery. They repaired the church of Varlaam, built a tower and a Katholikon (1541-42), dedicated to All Saints. Using a rope and basket it took them 22 years to lift all the building materials to the top, the construction itself only took 20 days.

We then walked up to the Great Meteoron monastery again. Before visiting the monastery we started a hike towards the closed Ypapanti monastery. The trail starts at the parking area, if you stand with your back towards the monastery, the trailhead starts right from the souvenir stands. The trail immediately goed uphill. Keep following the trail straight ahead, do not take any of the trails to the left or right, until you reach a kind of plateau, where you see a ruin on your right. Take the turn to the right in the direction of the ruins. Keep following the path straight ahead through a lush forest, and you will arrive at the Ypapanti monastery, built into one of the stone pillars. You can walk up the stairs but the entrance to the monastery is firmly shut. The trail takes about 30 min. one way and takes you along beautiful fields filled with flowers and through lush forests. 

We then visited the Great Meteoron monastery for which you have to climb quite some stairs. The Great Meteoron (Monastery of the Transfiguration of Christ) is the highest, largest and oldest of the 6 remaining monasteries of Meteora, founded in 1340 by a monk from Mount Athos, St. Athanasios Meteor. He climbed the highest mountain, which he called “Megalo Meteora” (Great place hanging in the air). He built a small church and modest dwellings for the monks. The church fresco’s strongly resemble those of Varlaam, but the church is bigger. There are three museums in the monastery, one with even older manuscripts than Varlaam, a second one with icons. I found the third museum uninteresting, showing lithographs about the resistance during WWI and WWII. 

We drove back down to Kastrika, bought some food for breakfast the next morning and had lunch at Qastiro, just around the corner from our appartment. The coffee house serves snacks, in a beautiful setting on their terrace with great views of Meteora. We both had a Greek salad with bread and I had a great homemade lemonade with fresh ginger. Just right for a light lunch. 

It started to rain right after we had paid our lunch so we ran back to our appartement and sat our the rain. We then drove up and visited the Saint Nickolaos monastery, the closest one to Kastrika. It is quite a climb up and the monastery is very small, reason why it is built on several levels. On the first level of the monastery is a tiny chapel of Saint Anthony, containing earlier frescoes of the 14th century, a crypt used to store relics and manuscripts. Its altar is set on 4 square meters and can accommodate only one cleric. The fresco’s in the larger chapel are in need of a restoration. We rather liked this small monastery, probably also because there were very few visitors, and it has great views from the top. We drove to Saint Stephens monastery, but there were too many tourists visiting since this monastery stays open till 5:30 PM. We turned around and decided to return the next morning at opening hour. ( which is at 9:30 on a Sunday)

We then set out on our second hike towards the Monks’ prison caves. We downloaded the map on our app before setting off, and we were happy we did because the trail is not really well marked. The trailhead starts left from the parking area of the Saint Nickolaos monastery if you stand with your back to the monastery. Walk down and immediately take a right on the first T intersection. A bit further take a left at the white building. Follow the trail for 50 m and just behind an impressive tree, take a turn right, going up. After about one kilometer, you have to climb up on a smaller trail on your right till you reach the caves in the rock that used to be prison cells for monks who misbehaved. A rope helps you climb the steepest part. 

From the foot of the prison caves you can continue on the trail until you reach a beautiful viewpoint of the Roussanou monastery, which is set on top of a small single pinnacle. The trail continues towards the Rock of the Holy Spirit, a small chapel in the rock. The whole trail is not very long and the whole hike takes about 1 to 1,5 hour. 

We had dinner at restaurant Gardenia, we both chose a moussaka and a salad. Just before dinner the sun came back out, so we quickly drove back up after dinner to enjoy the sunset, with beautiful evening colors behind the rock formations of Meteora on the viewpoint just past the Rousanou monastery. 

The next morning we checked out after breakfast and drove up to see the other monasteries. We first drove up to Saint Stephens’ monastery, which is now a nunnery, just above Kalabaka. St. Stephens’s monastery opens at 9:30 AM on Sunday. Best check the opening times on Sundays, many of the monasteries open later on that day. This is the largest monastery, and you do not have to climb any stairs, just cross a bridge. Even early in the morning busses are already lining up at the monastery. The monastery has two chapels but you can only visit the newer 18th century church, with very bright new frescoes. The old church is used by the nuns. In the church you find the relics of Saint Charalambus (his skull), protecting against illness. In the old refectory you find a museum with old manuscripts. The monastery suffered from heavy bombardments during WWII, desecretions during the civil war and destruction of frescoes by the communists. The monastery of St. Stephen was actually abandoned until 1961, before becoming a nunnery.

We then drove over to the Holy Trinity monastery, located at the top of one of the most picturesque rocks of Meteora. You have to climb quite some stairs. This monastery is inhabited and sustained by just a few monks and is the most serene of the six monasteries. It was together with Varlaam my favourite monastery in Meteora. The monastery was built in the 15th century. The chapel is small but decorated with beautiful frescoes that date from the 17th and 18th century and haven’t been overpainted by new restorations. The figures are painted with soft and fine expressions. Like all other chapels it consists of a sanctuary, a nave and a narthex. We sat all alone in the church and really enjoyed the serenity of the place. 

Having visited five out of six monasteries, I had to also visit the sixt one, the Roussanou monastery, dedicated to Saint Barbara, a nunnery nowadays. It has a cosy patio, pity they didn’t serve drinks, we would have sat there for quite a while with a great view over the Varlaam monastery. The monastery covers the entire surface of the plane of the rock and consists of 3 levels, and one side a beautiful little forest trail connects to the road. You are not allowed to take photo’s or video’s in the small church (beware they have camera’s in place). You can only visit the shop, the church and the patio with the view here, and it is the view which is the biggest draw of this monastery. 

In each monastery you can still see the ropes, baskets and nets that were used till early into the 20th century to draw people and goods up to the monasteries. When visitors ask how often the ropes were replaced, the answer is: when God decides it is time to break the ropes… It was almost noon, so we decided to buy some bread in the bakery of Kastraki and get on our way to Thessaloniki. 

Link to post about Vergina and Dion.

Link to post about Thessaloniki.