Imagine opening your eyes in the morning at the end of September, all the windows are open and there is no sign of cold weather, all you can feel is the fresh smell of the morning air and the Greek sea🌅.Coming to Greece for most tourists is synonym with the sea, very few people decide to visit something else like mountains and monasteries. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to visit all of the above. After I got up,the first morning in Greece I went down to breakfast, already ready for the trip. And as soon as I had breakfast, I set off with my friends towards the majestic Meteora.
From Paralia to Meteora, we traveled for more than three hours because we had a break on the way, we visited a famous icon painting workshop. They told us that it is the most famous one in Greece and maybe even one of the most famous in Europe. They welcomed us in the real Greek way with homemade lokum and juice. I tried homemade lokum for the first time and I liked it very much, it contained nuts. There they told us about the way of making icons and I found out that the part that shines on the icons is actually gold, we bought icons and sovereigns there and at the end we played a giveaway where 3 players got a gift. I can't explain you how happy I was when I heard that I was among the winners for the first time in my life. I received a beautiful picture frame🖼. From there we headed towards the Meteora.
All the time we were going along the plain and suddenly we saw huge mountains that rise from nowhere and roads that are made through these and around these mountains⛰️⛰️. At the northwestern end of the Thessalian plain, near the Peneus River in central Greece are Meteora and according to research, these rocks were formed 60 million years ago.
The most impressive is actually the place where the monasteries were built, that extraordinary wonder of nature that UNESCO has put under protection. In the Greek language, the term Meteori means "neither on earth nor in heaven" and it really is. And what these monasteries represent to the Greek people is shown by the fact that after Mount Athos, this is their holiest place⛪️.
They were built from the 13th-16th centuries. Until the 16th century, there were 26 monasteries on these impressive rocks, and today there are only 6 of them. Four of them are men's and two are women's monasteries, and today they are mostly tourist attractions.
The monasteries you can visit are:
-The Great Meteoron Monastery
-Saint Nicholas Monastery
-Monastery of St. Stephen
-Monastery of the Holy Trinity
-Rusan Monastery
-Varlaam Monastery
First we saw the Monastery of St. Stephen, but we didn't stop there, it is a women's Monastery and the exact number of nuns is unknown, which makes things even more interesting. But that was not the goal of our visit, so we headed it to the Great Meteoron monastery. It was very crowded, but that didn't stop us. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time, only 30 minutes, so I didn't get the chance to go inside the monastery and the museum, but I saw the outside. First we had to climb the stairs ,get the tickets and push through the crowd, but as soon as we got there, we forgot about everything and enjoyed the moment. It was beautiful. Suddenly I felt peace and tranquility and I no longer heard the noise around me. I walked a little alone and admired the scene. It was wonderful. Then all of my friends and I gathered, talked a little about the monastery and took pictures to have some memories. We soon got back on the bus and continued our journey towards Loutraki 🚍.
