Meteora, oh Meteroa...you blew my mind. I've been to quite a few epic places by now, and some have been a little overrated, others were pretty much what I expected them to be, but Meteora was on another level. We arrived in the late afternoon and, after checking into our adorable motel in Kastraki, drove up the road to the famous monasteries. Knowing how popular the UNESCO site was, I couldn't believe our luck in having the road and rocks pretty much all to ourselves...traveling so soon after the country opened was really paying off. The forecast called for rain for the days that we were going to be there, but the weather held out (aside from sweltering heat and humidity) but it was the most beautiful day and the light was perfect...I was in heaven.
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This picture is a nice view of a small portion of the thousands of stairs involved in visiting each monastery.
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After a few hours of exploring, we went back to the motel to clean up, and then walked to a little tavern at the end of the road for dinner. We absolutely loved the little town of Kastraki that we stayed it...it was super close to where we wanted to spend our time, was tiny and so friendly, and didn't have any tourists like Kalabaka. The motel was a dream...the grounds were so beautiful, it was quiet and perfect and the breakfast was to die for.
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Our cozy dinner spot <3
Right at the turn for our motel was the original little church built in 1340. There's also a massive rock that we climbed right up the face of to watch the sun set. It was lovely.
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The original little church built by the monks before the monasteries were started.
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The next morning, we ate an amazing breakfast at the motel and then made our way up to explore the monasteries.
We arrived before the first site was opening, and Brian made a sweet friend in the meantime (we really missed the kitties while we were gone).
It was literally 90 degrees, humid as all get out, and there was no breeze to speak of. Being active Greek Orthodox religious sites, I was required to cover my shoulders and wear a long skirt. That, coupled with literally hundreds and hundreds of stairs into each monastery, I was an exhausted, sweaty mess by the end of the day. It was SOOO worth it though.
Once the site opened up, we were the first ones inside...it was lovely not being rushed or crowded and really being able to enjoy them. I didn't realize ahead of time that we could actually go inside each structure, so I was so excited to be able to really explore them without any idea of what they would be like up close. We weren't allowed to take photos inside, but the chapels in each one were so ornate and smelled like incense. Each structure was just a little bit different in their own way, with gardens and patios and fountains...they were really remarkable. We felt like we were on the set of a movie...it's crazy to know that they are between 475-700 years old and are so pristine!
My favorites had expansive gardens built right into the stone and paintings of monks with their favorite cats :)
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| You can literally see the massive granite mountain as the floor of this patio area <3 |
After a very long day and very full hearts, we walked to dinner at a different place up the street and soaked in our last evening in Meteora. The following day we didn't have a solid plan...we slept in and ate a slow breakfast and it was supposed to be very rainy for the next few days. There were a couple of things that I'd researched northeast towards Thessaloniki and Brian was down for a long drive, so we hit the road through the center of the country.
