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
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Athos – Agion Oros
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…