This summer I went with my wife, son and daughter to the Greek islands of Alonnisos and Skiathos . Skiathos means shadow of Athos but we had sun all the time :). Returning to Thessaloniki we made a detour to visit the monasteries of Meteora. We stayed in the small village of Kastraki where we started our climb to the monasteries at the church.
The village of Kastraki is directly situated under the strangely formed rocks and very soon we saw the first monastery: St. Nicolaos.
We started at Kastraki, passed Nicolaos, walked to Great Meteoron, Varlaam and back to the village.
The path (monopati) was very nice to walk and through the trees we saw St. Nicolaos.
The monastery of Varlaam and the monastery of Great Meteora. It looks not far away but still we had 1 hour to climb.
The cobbled monopati led the way to the monasteries. It is also possible to reach all the monasteries by road and many visitors choose to do so. On the path we encountered only two other climbers. It wasn’t that hot and most of the time we walked in the shadow of the trees.
At this point the path splits in two. To the right to Varlaam, to the left to Great Meteora.
Near the path we saw a total of 3 turtles hiding in the leaves.
When we reached Great Meteora all sweaty and tired we had to wait in line with all the other tourists to go in. We had a perfect day but my advise: Leave the car and go walking!
Megali Meteora.
SelfView from Great Meteora to Kastraki village.
Herman Voogd
-
Recent Posts
- 2257 – a drone footage of the Athonias Academy
- 2256 – the ruins of the Athonias or Athonite academy
- 2255 – December 1st: 2022 heavy rains on Mount Athos / Dionysiou
- 2254 – FoMa footpath team 2022 – part 1: from Ouranopolis to Dafni and Vatopedi
- 2253 – another You Tube footage by Rafinos of a hike from Agia Anna to Kerasia and to the top of Mount Athos, including the enormous waterspout
- 2252 – a You Tube footage of a hike between Simonos Petras and Grigoriou
- 2251 – Swiss photographer Fred Boissonnas in Vatopedi -1928/30
- 2250 – arsanas Chromitsa and the border buildings
Recent Comments
Mike on 1835 – make a reservatio… Tina on 2257 – a drone footage o… Geronda Makarios… on 2224 – Father Makarios f… Tina on 1475 – Insects, butterfl… Nelly Replas on 653 – 1973: hippies not… Vasílis on 2253 – another You Tube… Jacob on 2080 – Exploring Va… Yves Milonas on 2251 – Swiss photographe… athosweblog on 2250 – arsanas Chromitsa… Gerard Koolschijn on 2250 – arsanas Chromitsa… Categories
- 01 Lavra
- 02 Vatopedi
- 03 Iviron
- 04 Chilandariou
- 05 Dionysiou
- 06 Koutloumousiou
- 07 Pantocratoros
- 08 Xiropotamou
- 09 Sografou
- 10 Docheiariou
- 11 Karakallou
- 12 Filotheou
- 13 Simonos Petras
- 14 Paulou
- 15 Stavronikita
- 16 Xenofontos
- 17 Grigoriou
- 18 Esfigmenou
- 19 Panteleimonos
- 20 Konstamonitou
- arsanas
- art
- basic information/reservations
- Bogoroditsa/Xylourgou
- books
- border
- Chomitsa
- Dafni
- Dimitriou
- events
- films
- food
- Germans
- history
- Karoulia
- Karyes
- Katounakia
- Kavsokalivia
- kellia
- konaki
- maps
- monasteries
- mountain
- Mylopotamos
- nature
- Nea Skiti
- news
- Orthodoxy
- Ouranoupolis
- Paleo Monastiro
- people
- Prodromou
- ruins
- skiti
- Skiti Andreou
- Skiti Anna
- Skiti Lakkou
- Skiti Profitou Eliou
- Thebais
- Timiou Stavrou
- trip 1989
- trip 2007
- trip 2009: Herman's group
- trip 2009: Wim's group
- trip 2011: Herman's group
- trip 2011: Wim's group
- trip 2013
- trip 2014
- trip 2015
- trip 2017
- Trip 2018
- Trip 2019
- Trip 2022
- Uncategorized
- walking
- war
- wine
- women
- Zygou
Links
Archives
Athos – Agion Oros
Athos Twitter
- a drone footage of the Athonias Academy athosweblog.com/2023/01/06/225… 3 weeks ago
- the ruins of the Athonias or Athonite academy athosweblog.com/2022/12/29/225… 3 weeks ago
- December 1st: 2022 heavy rains on Mount Athos / Dionysiou athosweblog.com/2022/12/11/225… 1 month ago
- FoMa footpath team 2022 - part 1: from Ouranopolis to Dafni and Vatopedi #foma #friendsofmountathos athosweblog.com/2022/11/19/225… 2 months ago
- You Tube footage by Rafinos of a hike from Agia Anna to Kerasia and to the top of Mount Athos athosweblog.com/2022/11/08/225… 2 months ago
There is a tight connection between the Meteora and Mount Athos. Monasticism at the Meteora has been based on Monasticism at Athos, including architecture, art, and the “avaton” (prohibition of women and children), which was upheld until 1948! The fact that the Meteora have been overrun by tourists since the abolishing of the avaton, strengthens the defenders of the Athonite avaton…