Meteora, Greece

Phoebe, Felix, Adele, Hannah and I decided to catch the 9 am bus to Kalambaka. We brisk walked our way through Trikala town and found the bus stop. 

Meteora was said to be formed 60 million years ago during the Paleogene Period. The different phases of geographic land formation contributed to what can now be seen humungous sandstone rock pinnacles protruding off the earth. The lines formed on the rocks were said to be caused by a prehistoric sea.

Exact dates of the initial building blocks of the monasteries are yet to be known. In the early to mid 1300’s, a

set of people from Mount Athos moved to Meteora. The only means of getting to these monasteries were by climbing a long ladder. That served the purpose of security for the monks. In the 1400’s, during the Turkish raids, the hermit monks found the monasteries as their refuge. It’s sad to think though that World War II (yet again) caused anguish when they bombed the area and robbery of art treasures were rampant. As of this day, only 6 monasteries remain. 

Meteora in Greek meant “middle of the sky” , “suspended in the air” or “in the heavens above”. It has been included in the UNESCO world heritage site and is known to be one of the most important complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Greece, second to Mount Athos. 

There was a bus from the town of Kalambaka to the biggest monastery in Meteora known to be The Holy Monastery of Great Meteoron. I found it a little bit daunting when we got there, seeing the big tourist buses parked before us. Heaps of people were already out and about, snapping photos here and there. We realized that the monastery was only open by lunchtime. We didn’t have time to go back there, but we decided to walk around the premises and check out the walls. All of the monasteries had a long staircase before you get up to the entrance. 

We continued on and found a pathway down to one of the rocks. We stopped there for a few photos with one of the monasteries in the background. After a few minutes we continued on to the area with a good panoramic view. I found a crevice underneath one of the rocks where we settled for our lunch break. It was perfect, with shade and a view of the whole stretch of rocks and hanging monasteries. After eating our food, we decided to take jump shots just right off the edge. Cute.

On the way back, we walked a few kilometers already in the intense heat of the sun. It was around 2ish in the afternoon. Adele and Hannah were thinking of hitching a ride back to Kalambaka so decided to stick the thumb out at some point. A lot of cars just passed by and gave us the look. We all found it weird that people didn’t even stop. Apparently, we were the only ones walking on the road. Everyone were either on the tourist bus, car or motorbike/scooter. Oh well. It might have taken us half an hour before someone stopped and gave us a lift. Phoebe and Felix said they were fine to walk back to town since they were planning to use their Rail pass to get on the train. We found out that the couple who gave us a lift was from France. 

photo by Adele

We got off at Kalambaka and said thank you to the couple. We then looked for a post office to drop of our postcards. When we go to the bus terminal, we found the other girl who was staying at the hostel was from Cyprus. We all hopped on the bus and settled in our seats, exhausted. We picked up a few passengers along the way, and was surprised to see Phoebe and Felix get on the bus. Apparently, the train times wouldn’t have worked out. 

That night we exchanged details and also just relaxed after a long day. Hannah and I were goofing of while playing ping pong in the room. It was our last night, but I had so much good and fun memories with the bunch.  

I was leaving Greece via Thessaloniki, so I exchange mobile numbers with Adele so I could catch up with them when I got there.