The Monasteries of Meteora — Rising Son Travels

August 21-22nd, 2019

Far too often Mainland Greece gets overlooked by people chasing blue-roofed sunsets in Santorini or raucous parties in Mykonos. The islands get all the attention, and for good reason, but there is so much more to Greece.

When I first heard about the monasteries in Meteora I couldn’t believe I’d never heard of them. The way they hang off the cliffs seemed to defy any (admittedly little) understanding I have about physics or architecture.

This shell station across from the hostel might be the most beautiful shell station in the world?

To visit the monasteries I stayed at Meteora Centra Hostel, which is one of the best hostels I’ve stayed in during my travels. It has a lovely backyard, curtains on the beds, and the hosts do an incredible job of outlining how to see the various monasteries. The hostel is actually in the town of Kalambaka, which sits at the foot of Meteora.

Visiting the Monasteries

Time Table
(As of September 21st, 2019)

Kalambaka to Meteora:
Departure from Kalambaka Bus Station:
9.00, 12.00, 14.30
(There is also a bus station across the street from Meteora Central Hostel)

Meteora to Kalambaka
Departure from St. Stephen’s Monastery: 11:00, 14:00, 16.30

I took the main bus that stops at all the monasteries and got out at the first one, Saint Nicholas of Anapafsas. If you want to hike up to the rest of the monasteries, there’s a nice trail there as well.

Even if there were no monasteries, the landscape would stand on its own like something striking that you might see in Utah or Colorado.

I ascended up the steps up to St. Nicholas. I shouldn’t have been surprised at how steep it was, these were monasteries built on cliffs. This monastery didn’t appear to get the same level of visitors as some of the others. The monk I paid gave my two free post cards that were included with admission. One was a fresco from inside the monastery that depicted a pretty graphic biblical beheading.

I started my ascent to the main plateau where most of the monasteries can be visited. It was a steep climb with a really great surprise. A tortoise retreated into its shell when it saw me, but started going about his business once I stood still and waited patiently.

I worked my way through two more monasteries, although there are six in total. The walk from one side to the other was paved and no very pedestrian-friendly, but it can be done. There’s also the option to hitchhike, which is very common in this part of Greece.

The monasteries are so scenic they can be enjoyed from the outside, but many of the best views of the monasteries are from other monasteries, not to mention their religious and cultural significance.

The monasteries were ornate on the inside but also full of pictures depicting torture and demons. One practice that was unfamiliar to me was that people would come to pray and then kiss a picture of a saint. There was understandably glass protecting the painting from the faithful’s lips.

Each monastery costs €3 to enter. It’s cool to wander around the courtyards and halls of these magnificent structures. I would recommend taking the time to see at least 3 or 4. You’ll be rewarded with Panoramic views of Kalambaka, cliffs, and the other monasteries.

The Agia Triada (Holy Trinity) Monastery has a jaw-dropping cable car that crosses from one cliff to the other.

From Agia Triada there’s an excellent trail that takes you back down to Kalambaka. It conveniently drops you off right by the Meteora Central Hostel.

I took a nap at the hostel before connecting with some of the other hostel goers. There’s a vantage point that’s perfect for sunset so we all hiked right back up to watch. As the sun started to set I remarked that it reminded me of something out of King Kong (pre-NYC obvi).

It didn’t take long for the moment to be marred by the loud whirring of a drone. I’ve noticed that tourist attractions are all trying to wrestle with the various issues that drones cause. In nature, the primary issue is how obnoxiously loud they are. If every person watching the sunset that day had a drone, it would have sounded like we were about to be be attacked by a swarm of killer bees. Privacy is a concern with in places where people have an expectation of privacy.

I cut these people a break because they were one of three couples attempting to get weddings pictures done. We wondered where they might have come from to take these pictures as the locals probably wouldn’t want to do something so obvious.