TRAVEL FEATURE The magnificent monasteries of Meteora
By Alan Hoskins
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(Photo by Alan Hoskins)
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One of the great wonders of the world, 24 monasteries once existed in Metereo. Today, six working monasteries still remain including two that had to be rebuilt after World War II.
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The Great Metereo monastery (upper right) is one of six monasteries located on the tops of sheer rock formations in central Greece.
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Sitting atop a sheer rock tower hundreds of feet above the floor below and requiring a climb of 1 ½ hours, the Monastery of the Holy Trinity is one of six working monasteries built on the tops of similar peaks in Greece.
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For more than 400 years, ladders provided the only way to reach the Monastery of the Holy Trinity. Today, two bridges make it possible for pilgrims to reach the top.
KALAMBAKA, Greece – It is with great anticipation that I visited this magical country that has given the world such magnificence as the Olympic Games and the first Olympic Stadium, the Parthenon on the Acropolis high above Athens, the Oracle of ancient Delphi, the Temple of Apollo, the Corinth Canal and the wonderful Greek myths of Zeus, Hercules and so many more.
What I did not expect was to find something even more spectacular, more magnificent and spell-bounding.
If you’ve never heard of the century old monasteries of Meteora, don’t feel alone. Something of a best kept secret outside of Greece, they nevertheless rank up their along with the Great Wall, Iguacu Falls in Brazil and Abu-Simbel in Egypt as my all-time favorites.
Unfortunately, words are inadequate to describe the monasteries which were built more than 1,000 years ago atop sheer rock formations that thrust skyward as much as a quarter of a mile. Created by a rare geological phenomenon some 60 million years ago, more than a thousand natural sandstone towers rise skyward to form a form a forest of rock that is without question of the world’s most wondrous and spectacular landscapes.
That people could actually scale the sheer rock formations seems preposterous enough let alone people living there year round. And yet totally isolated from the rest of the world, the summits were a refuge for hermits and monks from as early as the 11th century.
Just how they reached the tops of the steep rock faces is uncertain. Most historians believe it is likely they hammered pegs into tiny gaps in the rock although there’s another theory that kites were flown over the tops, carrying strings attached to thicker ropes where were made into the first rope ladders.
For hundreds of years, monks reached the inaccessible peaks in a basket drawn up by fellow brothers operating a windlass and even today, nets are still employed to lift food and supplies several hundred feet from the base of the summits.
At one time 24 monasteries dotted the pinnacles. Now there are six, two of which had to be rebuilt after being damaged in World War II. The other four are amazingly well preserved considering most of which are some 500 to 600 years old.
With the Byzantine Empire on the wane and the monastic communities of the Athos peninsula under increasing raids by Turkish pirates, three monks set out to find a new home in the late 1300’s. Having heard of ‘miracles’ taking place in the land of the great rock forest, they established what would become a stronghold of the Orthodox East religion.
While the first monasteries were founded because they provided safe havens from attackers, many will tell it was because the monks wanted to be as close to God as physically possible.
Today, modern roads bring visitors close to the pinnacles – but only close. It still takes an hour and a half to reach the Monastery of the Holy Trinity. For more than 400 years, the only access was by rope ladders. A crown on top of a steep slim rock, the Nunnery of Roussanou covers the entire top of its mountain and is the most picturesque. Accessible only by rope ladders until 1897, two bridges now make it possible for pilgrims to climb safely to the top.
The oldest, largest, highest and most popular of the monasteries is the first church of the Metamorphossis or the Transfiguration of Christ. Known as the great Meteoro, it rises 613 meters above sea level and 475 meters above the Pinios River.
Founded in 1380 with the building of a chapel, it was accessed only by successive rope ladders and a rope net hoist until 1923. Today it is reached by way of 300 steps – 154 down and 146 up to get there although hand rails made it reachable by a couple of 80-year plus seniors on our visit.
With a 12-sided dome at the center, a sanctuary filled with stunning wall paintings that tell the stories of martyrdoms of Saints to the life of Jesus Christ. Still working monasteries, support is now provided by admission charged the thousands of visitors each year but in olden days, monks descended in the net or on retractable wooden ladders up to 40 meters in length to the fertile valleys below to grow grapes, corn and potatoes. The monks today divide their day into three-eight hour periods, one devoted to prayer; another for work and the third for study and rest.
By no means should the Parthenon, the first Olympic Stadium, the great canal of Corinth, the Oracle of Delphi and the Temple of Apollo be missed. But not to see the sheer and soaring rocks with their mysterious harmony, their loneliness and silence crowned with their age-old monasteries would mean missing one of the truly great wonders of the world.