Mystical Clifftop Monasteries of Meteora, Greece

Despite the sometimes violent history linked to the villages and monasteries of Meteora due to the numerous invasions and attempts to conquer the area, serenity and peace are still the prevailing sense that overwhelmed me at each holy site we visited, even those more popular with the tourists.

A Very Brief History of the Monasteries of Meteora

The mystical, beautiful and awe inspiring clifftop monasteries of Meteora have a long history in this region of Greece. The monks came to Meteora area of central Greece as early as the eleventh century to live in the caverns and caves of this amazing place. By the fourteenth century, construction started on monasteries on the precipices of the enormous columns of rock jutting into the sky from the valleys hundreds of feet below. The monks wanted a place to live in peace despite the increasing invasions from the Turks. The remoteness of the rock caverns and columns, and the difficulty of traversing the sheer rock landscape leading to the monasteries made them nearly impenetrable. The rope bridges and pulley systems used to transport people and supplies from the mountain side to the monasteries on their isolated precipices could be easily removed, making access by invaders practically impossible.