This Is Monastery Central

 Tuesday November 22nd, 2022

Time is going by much quicker now that we are on the move every day. Almost in a routine of sorts. Get up at 7am, have breakfast, re-pack, meet up with driver at 9am (same one since Napflion...he's doing the road trip with us all the way to Athens), drive 3 hours, tour, explore, sleep. Repeat.  Cyprus and Crete feel like a long time ago though. And knowing the trip is coming to an end soon is depressing. 

Our drive today took less time than anticipated and we got to Kalambaka much earlier than expected. We arrived around noon but our tour wasn't until 1:45pm. And we were early to check-in but thankfully things are quiet here too and so we were able to get our room. This hotel, unlike the others, is not in a great location. It's the same chain of hotels as we were in in Delphi, cute, has a monastic feel to it (appropriate given the area) but it's a few kilometers from the town. It would take a good 40 minutes to walk into town. So if you don't have your own car, it's not a great spot.

That said, the weather today is cold and windy with a 100% chance of rain during our "sunset" tour. Go figure. The one day we've been here that isn't sunny. Either way, we don't have time to go exploring because we are too far from anything and it's cold and might rain, so we sit tight until the tour guide comes to pick us up. Once again, it was supposed to be a group tour but it ended up being just us and the guide - Miguel.

Kalambaka is a small town situated at the foothills of the Meteora rock formations. And that's what we're here to see. Meteora sits on the northwest corner of that largest flatland in all of Greece. I noticed how prairie flat it got on the drive up. Greece is all hills and mountains but this area is as flat as a pancake except for the Meteora. And the Meteora is something special. 

Meteora is a unique geological formation created over millions of years from two ancient rivers that flowed to the area, depositing sand, rocks, dirt, minerals etc. into an underwater trench. And the water evaporated and the ground moved, the Earth eventually pushed the hardened rock upward, and with the erosion from the water and the wind, created these magnificent cliffs and rock formations that are smooth and rounded and unlike anything I've ever seen.

The grey part of the rock is from water contact and makes the rock much harder (like limestone) than the brown of tannish rock which is rock that doesn't come into contact with water and so is much "softer" (like sandstone). The holes in the rock, or pockets are formed from swirling sand and particle that over thousands of years erode the rocks and create this weird elipitcal holes.

What's weirded? Hermit monks have used those holes to live in or build small monasteries. Miguel brought us to see a few. One that is exposed and was simply a monk living in the rock, different holes for different purposes (ex: sleeping, storage, cooking etc.). Towns folk would bring him necessities and there would either be a ladded or a rope and pulley system to bring things up to him. He's passed away now but was living there until fairly recently.

The other two are small monasteries that are built inside the rocs. The have a facade and look like a house. Windows, doors, decks etc. It's incredible! Flush with the rock. And those are still inhabited today. 

The real showstoppers though are the full-fledged monasteries that are built atop of the Meteora rock formations. Enormous monasteries sitting on the peaks of the various formations. Built and wrapped around the rocks like they were meant to be there. There are 24 monasteries at Meteora, 6 of which are still active, a convent and some smaller ones that have solitary monks living within. Most of them have been rebuilt as a result of damage over the years but they date back to the 1500s. They built these monasteries, 600+ meters above sea level, on the top of these rocks, in the 1500s! HOW?

Miguel takes us all over and everywhere is a photostop. Every angle is different because the rocks are all unique. And there's always another monastery to see. The monasteries are open to the public, but they rotate days. So not all of them are open everyday. Miguel takes us to the monastery of Agios Stefanos. 3 Euro to enter but women need skirts. I do not have a skirt, but they have apron type wraps that you can use to wrap around your waist. The scent of frankinsense hits you when you walk in, but it's just a nice amount. Comforting in a way without being overwhelming. It's not a large monastery, but it is something to see. The garden, the view, the chapel, the small museum. Incredible.

The rain is holding off, but it is cold and windy still and there is no sun. As such, there will be no sunset. BUT we still stop at the spot we would have watched the sunset, had there been one to watch, to take a few more photos. 

The weather holds up and just as Miguel drops us off, it starts to rain. Perfect timing! But now we're at the hotel, with nowhere to go. So that means another long evening at the hotel. A bit of a bummer but it would have been far to walk even if the weather had been cooperative.

Wednesday November 23rd, 2022

Today is our chance to explore on our own with our driver. He takes us back up and today it's sunny so we can see the Fall colours even better! Unfortunately we only get to see one more monastery because the other big one worth see is closed today. But this one Monastery of Varlaam, puts the first one to shame. It's incredible. I'll let the photos speak for themselves. (Yes, the barrel is for wine... 12,000 litres of...WINE - my kind of monks!)

The monastery also had a small museum explaining the history and lifestyle of the monks. Interesting vestments and portraits in the Greek Orthodox church that is based in Christianity but is different in many ways. One main difference is they do the sign of the cross from right to left (instead of left to right) and they kiss the idol when they enter the church or chapel etc. Their churches and chapels all tend to have domes and inside, every single wall or ceiling surface is painted with religious imagery. It's wild! Colourful and ornate. No wall is bare. Very different from Catholic and other Christian churches. There are apparently very strict guidelines for drawing/painting Greek Orthodox idolotry and so every church you go into and every image you see, they all look very similar. Like baby Jesus always has a large body and itty bitty head. Every portrait - all the same. Shrunken head Jesus. No idea why. Adult Jesus is fine and normal sized...but baby Jesus...shrunken head. See here:

After that, another stop for photos, because why not. Even the driver wanted to take photos because it was so sunny and beautiful.

Before we head to Athens I ask to spend an hour in Kalambaka town, just to explore. So he drops us off and we walk around. Hit a few shops. A bakery that makes chocolate... yum. We had agreed to meet up with the driver at noon at the same spot where he dropped us off. So at noon we go back. He's not there. We wait. And wait. And wait some more... where is he? Maybe he misunderstood and thought 1pm? So we go walk around a bit more as the driver isn't coming, figuring he'll be there at 1pm instead, no big deal. But then 1pm comes and goes... still not there. That's weird. He's always punctual.

 

1:10pm and still nothing. Ok, something is wrong. Luckily I could get wifi in the square we were in and I reach the travel agent. As I'm doing that I say to Scott "the only other thing I can think of is if he got confused and forgot which square he dropped us off at and is at the other one up ahead..."? Sure enough... travel agent calls me and says that he's been sitting "where he dropped us off by the fountain since 11:55am". Um... that's not where he dropped us off. He dropped us off at the one before it. We know because we walked to the fountain. So my spidey senses were right... albeit an hour+ later. 

I don't think he believed me when I said I was 100% certain he dropped us off at the other square... I'm a tourist, what do I know? But we know we were in the right spot and that's all that matters lol. That and that we did end up finding each other. No harm, no foul. Now we can hit the road to Athens. But first, LOOK!  A MONK!!!