Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Metéora
he
monasteries of the METÉORA
are indisputably one of the great sights of Greece.
These extraordinary buildings, perched on seemingly inaccessible rock pinnacles,
occupy a valley just north of
Kalambáka
;
metéora
means “suspended in mid-air”, while
kalabak
is an Ottoman Turkish word meaning cliff or pinnacle. Arriving at the town,
you glimpse the closest of the monasteries, Ayíou Stefánou, firmly ensconced on a
massive pedestal; beyond stretches a forest of greyish pinnacles, cones and stubbier,
rounded cliffs. These are remnants of river sediment which flowed into a prehistoric sea
that covered the plain of Thessaly around 25 million years ago, subsequently moulded
into bizarre shapes by the combined action of fissuring from tectonic-plate pressures
and erosion by the infant River Piniós.
Brief history
Legend credits
St Athanasios
, founder of the earliest hermitage here (late 900s), with
flying up the rocks on the back of an eagle. More prosaically, local villagers may have
helped the original hermits up - with ropes and pulleys. Centuries later, in 1336 they
were joined by two Athonite monks:
Gregorios
and his disciple
Athanasios
. Gregorios
soon returned to Áthos, having ordered Athanasios to found a monastery. This
Athanasios did around 1344, establishing Megálou Meteórou. Despite imposing a
3
Statue
LOCKED
GATE
THE METÉORA
Ypapandí
0
1
kilometre
Principal monolith
Megálou Meteórou
(Great Meteora)
N
Ypsilótera
Varlaám
Ayíou Nikoláou
Anapavsá
Ayía
Moní
(ruins)
Pandokrátor
(ruins)
Roussánou
Doúpiani
Áyion Pnévma
Ayios
Yeóryios
Mandhilás
Kastráki
Ayías
Triádhos
Pixári
Adhrakhtí
Askitíria
Áyii
Apóstoli
Áyios Andónios
Ayíou
Nikoláou
Bandóvas
Ayíou Stefánou
Mitrópolis
Kalambáka
Ioánnina
Tríkala
