Majestic Meteora

Most Bulgarians associate Greece only with beautiful clean beaches and the clear turquoise waters of the sea, but our southern neighbour has far more to offer than that – in fact, some of its most remarkable places are the ones far from the coast. I’ve always given the Greeks credit for this: they know how to do business and how to attract tourists. We’ve certainly got a long way to go before we catch up with them on that front. Maybe that’s why, whenever a holiday with more than 2-3 days off comes round, half of Bulgaria heads south.

Three years ago my family and I visited Meteora over the Easter holidays, and we were genuinely impressed – not just by the beauty and grandeur of the place, but by the way we were treated everywhere we went. I wasn’t joking when I said the Greeks know how to do business – the service is light years ahead of what you get at our resorts and restaurants. But don’t kid yourself that the staff are all Greek. Far from it! Many of them are Bulgarians and Albanians, but our neighbours clearly know how to get the best out of their staff, which is why the difference is so huge. Anyway, back to the subject – Meteora! After passing through Thessaloniki on the way, where it didn’t stop raining, we arrived in Paralia Katerinis, where we spent the holidays. Everywhere you went you heard Bulgarian and Serbian – the cars and coaches were all ours.

Early the morning after we arrived, we set off for the famous area of Meteora, whose name translates as ‘high up in the heavens’ or ‘suspended in the air’. It lies in central Greece and is famous for its sheer rock formations and the monasteries ‘perched’ on top of them. All those stories of breathtaking views become real when you stand face to face with this truly majestic work of nature. I’m not exaggerating! It’s out of this world. At the foot of the complex lies the little town of Kalambaka, which has plenty of guesthouses and hotels. You can also book something more budget-friendly on airbnb.

It’s thought that 60 million years ago this area was a lake surrounded by mountains, but after a series of cataclysms the water drained away into the sea. There were once 24 monasteries, but now only 7 remain, 6 of which are open to visitors. Since 1988 Meteora has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List. We only managed to visit two of them – St Stephen’s and the Transfiguration, also known as the Great Meteoron.

The history of the Meteora monasteries

The first hermits are thought to have come to Meteora in the 10th century. At first the monks lived in niches and caves in the rock formations, between earth and sky, far from worldly life and in complete solitude. The community soon grew into a monastic republic, organised along the lines of the one that still exists today on Mount Athos. The first monastery was built in the 14th century.

Building the monasteries was a real challenge – and an ordeal – for the monks, because there were no cranes back then and they hauled the building materials up with ladders and ropes. Interestingly, until the early 1920s monks and visitors could only reach the monasteries by hanging ladders or by being hoisted up by the monks in special nets.

If you’re visiting this majestic place, you should know that men can’t go in wearing shorts, and women need to wear long skirts and cover their shoulders. It’s best to start your tour early in the morning, but check each monastery’s opening hours in advance, as they vary.

St Stephen’s Monastery

The monastery of St Stephen was the first one we visited. It’s the only one you can drive right up to. Today St Stephen’s is a fairly large and very beautiful convent, which has flourished over the last few decades thanks to the nuns who live there.

Monastic life there began as early as the 12th century, and in the 16th century the small church was built, with frescoes painted in 1545. In the 18th century a larger church was built, dedicated to St Charalambos, whose skull is still kept there today.

During the Second World War the monastery was bombed by the Nazis, who believed rebels were hiding there, and it was abandoned as a result. In 1961, however, it was handed over to nuns, who restored it, and today it’s one of the larger monasteries in Meteora, home to around 28 nuns as of 2015.

The Great Meteoron

The Monastery of the Transfiguration, also known as the Great Meteoron, is built on the highest rock in Meteora. It’s the largest, most important and oldest of the monasteries. In 1334 the Athonite monk Athanasios settled here and drew up the rules and conditions under which the monks of Meteora would live.

You reach the Great Meteoron by a stone staircase, and as well as its buildings and churches, you can see many manuscripts and a rich collection of paintings and portraits of the leaders of the uprisings against Ottoman rule in Greece. There’s a museum of everyday objects used by the monks who lived here, and the icing on the cake is the enormous terrace, with an incredible view over the whole valley.