8 May 2018, Tuesday
I woke up feeling super excited because we were going to visit the Meteora rock formations and monasteries today. When I started planning this trip months ago, Meteora was one of the first things I pencilled in, so I was greatly looking forward to it.
I initially considered touring the monasteries independently without a guide, but since my Airbnb host Dimitrios offered to conduct a private tour using his car, I thought it would be more convenient to engage him. He charged us 20 Euros (S$32.50) per person, which was at least 5 Euros cheaper than similar tours conducted by the leading Visit Meteora website (click here) and other companies.
Since it was a private tour, Dimitrios could customise it according to our needs – whether to hike our way through or do a combination of hiking and exploring by car. I had read in Lonely Planet that some of the paths used by the monks in the old days, called monopatia, still exist. I was keen to see them, so I told Dimitrios to incorporate some hiking into our tour.
The tour would last between four and six hours and cover at least three monasteries. There is an additional entrance fee of 3 Euros to each monastery and it is not included in the amount charged by Dimitrios.
When we set off at 10am, a light drizzle fell but thankfully, it didn’t last long. The rest of the day remained cloudy and overcast, which was good because it kept the temperature nice and cool.
From Kalabaka, we drove to the village of Kastraki, about 2km away. Kastraki is a much smaller town and it is the gateway to the Meteora monasteries. Dimitrios navigated his car skilfully through the narrow streets of Kastraki, sometimes taking shortcuts and driving through what seemed like pedestrian footpaths wedged between the houses. Looking through the window, Kastraki seemed like a nice and quiet place to stay. Here, the Meteora rock formations were so close by they really felt right at your doorstep.
As we drove along, Dimitrios pointed out in the distance one of Meteora’s most distinctive features called the Spindle, a phallus-shaped rock about 40m tall. It sticks out between the massive rock formations and it is a popular climbing spot. We then drove past a signboard that inscribed Meteora as a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 9 December 1988.
Dimitrios started the tour by taking us to one of the most primitive caves used by the early hermits, near to the rock of Agio Pnevma. The caves were already natural hideouts but the hermits wanted even more privacy, so they built walls to further close up the caves. These caves with built-in walls are thousands of years old and they are some of the few that remain today.
We drove further along and approached the monastery Aghia Trias Asketirion of St. Nikolas. As we walked towards it, we could see the old wooden platforms and shelters built into the natural cave holes of the cliff. We could also see a retractable wooden ladder that was used by the monks to access their hideout.
Dimitrios explained that the monks were seeking seclusion so that they could meditate peacefully. They intentionally chose the caves that were high above ground and were thus inaccessible. It’s crazy to think how determined they must have been to get away from everyone else to want to build their dwellings in such dangerous spots.
We walked up the pathway to the monastery Aghia Trias Asketirion of St. Nikolas but did not enter it because a monk was currently residing in there. Up close, it was quite startling to see that the monastery was so well constructed. It felt more like an expensive chalet resort than a place for worship. It had a beautiful stone façade, a couple of chimneys and balcony walkways that projected out of the building. It felt like a very luxurious place to live in.
After that, we did a short hike up one of the monopatias. As we walked through the forest, we were engulfed in greenery all around us. Dimtrios called it “forest bathing”. He spoke about the importance of getting away from the city and immersing yourself in nature every now and then. Coming from the city-state of Singapore, I couldn’t agree more.
When we reached the top of a hill, we saw another monastery built into the vertical face of the cliff. Where there were once holes in the cliff’s face, the monks had patched them up with a stone brick façade, embellished with little windows and a couple of overhanging balcony platforms. The resulting residence was more than four storeys high and an engineering marvel in its own right, given the primitive tools that were used in its construction. We then took some time to rest and to admire the scenery. From here, we had a nice view overlooking Kalabaka town below.
After that, we retraced our steps back to the car, and drove to our next destination, the holy monastery of Saint Nicholas Anapafsas. The monastery is open from 9:00am to 4:00pm on Mondays to Saturdays (closed on Fridays), and from 9:30am to 4:00pm on Sunday. Like all the other monasteries, there is an entrance fee of 3 Euros per person and a strict dress code: no entry to men wearing shorts and short-sleeved shirts, and to women wearing trouser shorts and short-sleeved shirts. For ladies, you can get around this rule by borrowing a wrap-around sarong skirt at the entrance for free.
The climb up to the main monastery is quite steep but not that long. Along the way, we passed by a small stone chapel carved into the rock.
The monastery of St. Nicholas Anapafsas was founded at the end of the 14th century. It is built on top of a rock, where the narrow surface area meant that it had to be built vertically. As we approached, we saw the pulley system that the monks used to transport heavy stuff up to the monastery.
We also saw the retractable wooden ladder that they used to climb up to the monastery. Back then, the ladder was the only way of access to the top. The staircases that are in place today were only built much later to accommodate to tourists.
Once again, I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I would like the monasteries to be preserved in their original state but on the other hand, it then would not be possible for travellers like me to visit the monasteries without the staircases. I can only hope for a compromise. In this case, the staircases are tastefully constructed and I am glad they do not alter the monasteries’ aesthetics too significantly.
Photography is not allowed inside the main chambers of the monastery so I cannot show you what it looks like. But I can tell you that the walls are all covered with elaborate frescoes. It is also quite small and cramped inside. Dimitrios said that this is his favourite monastery because it is more cosy and humble than the others that we will visit later.
From the rooftop area, we had an astounding view of the rock formations and of Kastraki village below. It is not hard to see why the monks chose Meteora to build their monasteries centuries ago.
We spent about 40 minutes visiting the monastery of St. Nicholas Anapafsas. After that, Dimitrios drove us to the holy monastery of Grand Meteoron (also known as Grand Meteoron). We only stopped for a quick look outside because it was closed today (it is closed every Tuesday).
It was a slight pity we couldn’t visit because the Grand Meteoron is the biggest and oldest among all the monasteries at Meteora. It is also the highest at 606m. Nevertheless, Dimitrios said that most of the monasteries are quite similar anyway so we won’t miss out too much. From what we saw, the Grand Meteoron looked really massive and I can understand why Dimitrios preferred the smaller and humbler monastery of St. Nicholas Anapafsas compared to this one.
Next, we visited Varlaam (Agioi Pantes) monastery, located next to the Grand Meteoron. Varlaam is the second biggest monastery and it was founded in mid 14th century by Hosios Varlaam.
Varlaam monastery is very beautiful and it has been refurbished to look like a very posh holiday resort. The interior church and museum are much larger than the ones in the monastery of St. Nicholas Anapafsas earlier. Impressive as it is, I can totally understand why Dimitrios feels that it could be a little overbearing and prefers the cosier and humbler version. I share the same feeling.
We spent about 40 minutes visiting Varlaam monastery. After that, we drove eastwards and passed by Roussanou monastery, the Holy Trinity monastery and St. Stephen monastery before calling it a day at about 2:40pm.
In all, I must say that Meteora is astoundingly beautiful and well worth a visit. The rock formations are unique and the monasteries perched atop the various rocks are breathtaking, especially when you consider the great effort required to build them. Touring the monasteries independently is not advisable because the monasteries are located quite far apart from each other and you’ll definitely need transport to get around. Otherwise you will be wasting time and energy hiking from one hill to the other.
After our Meteora visit, we dropped by the Kalabaka railway station to buy our train tickets to Thessaloniki for tomorrow. Advance booking for this train is not possible on the TrainOSE website so we could only buy them from the ticket counter at the railway station itself. However, the ticket counter was closed for lunch break so we headed back to our Airbnb apartment first.
At about 3pm, we went out again and had lunch at an Italian restaurant called Panellinio, where we had pasta, beans soup and a garden salad. The servings were huge, as usual.
After lunch, we walked along Trikalon, the main street of Kalabaka. At 3:45pm, it was very quiet and most of the shops were closed for siesta (afternoon nap). Seems like the town is only livelier at night, when most of the travellers are done with their exploration of Meteora and are out and about for a drink. We then walked back to the railway station and successfully managed to purchase our train tickets. For the record, the ticket from Kalabaka to Thessaloniki costs 15.20 Euros, involving a change of train at Paleofarsalos.
For dinner, we got Dimitrios’ wife, Katerina, to prepare a meal for us at our Airbnb house. It wasn’t cheap, and it cost us 15 Euros per person but I thought it would be nice to have a home-cooked meal and try something different for a change.
Katerina came by the house at about 5:30pm and began preparing the food while we took a rest. By 8:15pm, dinner was ready. Dimitrios and Katerina are vegans so she prepared a meat-free meal for us, comprising of hummus, salad, cannelloni (a cylindrical type of pasta with spinach and almond nut fillings) and beetroot. She used only organic ingredients and the vegetables were freshly plucked from the garden outside the house.
It was a very healthy meal and perhaps a little too healthy for our liking, oops. I loved the cannelloni though, because it tasted a little like lasagna. I tried my best to eat as much as I could, but the portions were simply too much for us, so I politely invited Dimitrios to join us for dinner, and he came over shortly after. Katerina couldn’t join us because she was having a night out with her friends.
We spent the rest of the night chatting and sharing about our respective lives in Singapore and in Greece. It was a wonderful way to know more about our host and about Greek culture in general. After finishing up the last bit of food, Dimitrios said goodnight to us and went back to his house next door.
It had been a marvellous day. I went to bed dreaming of the beautiful Meteora landscape and monasteries that night…