Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Varlaám prominently displays its old
ascent tower
, comprising a reception
platform, well-worn windlass and original rope-basket. Until the 1930s the only way
of reaching most Metéoran monasteries was by being hauled up in said rope-basket,
or by equally perilous retractable ladders. A nineteenth-century abbot, asked how
often the rope was changed, replied, “Only when it breaks.” Steel cables eventually
replaced ropes, and then steps were cut to all monasteries by order of the Bishop of
Tríkala, unnerved by the vulnerability of his authority on visits. Today rope-baskets
figure only as museum exhibits, supplanted by metal cage-buckets, as well as a
hidden elevator or two.
Roussánou
T
24320 22649 • Daily except Wed: April-Oct 9am-6pm; Nov-March 9am-2pm
The convent of
Roussánou
, founded in 1545, has an extraordinary, much-
photographed situation, its walls edging to sheer drops all around. After some 150
steps up, the final approach to the convent (today housing about a dozen nuns) is
across a vertiginous bridge from an adjacent rock.
Inside, the narthex of its main chapel has particularly gruesome frescoes (1560) of
martyrdom and judgement, the only respite from sundry beheadings, spearings,
crushings, roastings and mutilations being the lions licking Daniel's feet in his
imprisonment (left of the window); diagonally across the room, two not-so-friendly
lions proceed to devour Saint Ignatios Theoforos. On the right of the transept there's a
vivid
Transfiguration
and
Entry to Jerusalem
, while to the left are events after Christ's
Resurrection. On the east of the wall dividing naos from narthex is an exceptionally
vivid Apocalypse.
3
Ayías Triádhos
T
24320 22220 • Daily except Thurs in summer; Wed & Thurs in winter: April-Oct 9am-5pm; Nov-March 9am-3pm
Few tour buses stop at
Ayías Triádhos
(Holy Trinity) - despite it famously featuring in
the 1981 James Bond film,
For Your Eyes Only
- and life remains essentially monastic,
even if there are only three brothers to maintain it. The approach from the parking area
consists of some 150 steps down and then another roughly 150 back up the other side
of the sheer ravine that separates its pinnacle from the road. You finally emerge into a
cheerful compound with small displays of kitchen/farm implements, plus an old ascent
windlass.
The seventeenth-century frescoes in the
katholikón
have been completely cleaned and
restored, fully justifying a visit. On the west wall, the
Dormition
is flanked by the
Judgement of Pilate
and the
Transaction of Judas
, complete with the thirty pieces of silver
and subsequent self-hanging. Like others at the Metéora, this church was built in two
phases, as evidenced by two domes, each with a
Pandokrátor
(the one above the
témblon
very fine), and two complete sets of Evangelists on the squinches. In the arch right of
the
témblon
is a rare portrait of a beardless Christ Emmanuel, borne aloft by four
seraphs; on the arch supports to the left appear the
Hospitality of Abraham
and
Christ
the Righteous Judge
.
Although Ayías Triádhos teeters above its deep ravine and the little garden ends in a
precipitous drop, an obvious, well-signposted path leads from the bottom of the
monastery's access steps back to the upper quarter of
Kalambáka
. This 1km descent is a
partly cobbled, all-weather surface in good shape, ending adjacent to Kalambáka's fine,
very early cathedral (see p.236).
Ayíou Stefánou
T
24320 22279 • Daily except Mon: April-Oct 9am-1.30pm & 3.30-5.30pm; Nov-March 9.30am-1pm & 3-5pm
Ayíou Stefánou
, the last, easternmost monastery, is 1.5km along the road beyond Ayías
Triádhos (no path short cuts), and it's the only one that requires no staircase climb to
FROM TOP
TRADITIONAL BRIDGE, ZAGÓRI (P.250); MÉTSOVO (P.242) >
