On the Road Again . . . Meteora, Greece

If you’ve wondered about hidden and remote temples and monasteries in Israel, Japan, Tibet, and Europe visit Meteora. It is located in the center of mainland Greece near the town of Kalabaka. Perched upon 200 to 300 foot high towering sandstone, conglomerate rock formations, are six surviving Greek Orthodox churches built during the 14th Century. It is the second most visited site in the country after the Acropolis.

You may even have seen shots of the Meteora Pillars in the James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only, in Tintin and the Golden Fleece and Pokémon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life. In the young Indiana Jones series, Travels with Father, Indiana and his Dad visited the location. Or you may have read about them in The Spook’s Sacrifice by Joseph Delaney and the zombie apocalypse novel, World War Z from Max Brook.

The term Meteora means “suspended in air” and “things in heaven” and has the same etymology as the English word meteor. From the 9th Century hermit monks settle in the caves pock marking the stone towers. By the eleventh Century, a thriving religious community had developed. Three monks from the Athos Peninsula, Moses, Gregory and Athanasios, traveled to join the assemblage and investigate reported miracles. Athanasios build a monastery on Platys Lithos (the Broad Rock) in 1344.

As the Byzantine Empire collapsed in the 14th Century and the Athos Peninsula was under siege from the Turks, a flood of religious heretics fled to Meteora. The monks began building monastery and refuges on the cliffs to protect themselves from the pending deluge from the Turkish Empire. Eventually twenty-four were built. They were only accessible with ladders and systems of pulleys and ropes with baskets, that were removed when marauding armies were near. After several subsequent invasions over the centuries and heavy bombing during World War II, only six monasteries remain today. It is said the that Greek culture itself would not have survived the Middle Ages without the refuges at Meteora.

You can trek the Meteora forest and tour the monasteries in six to eight hours. If you prefer to ride, you can take a taxi or a tour bus for three Euros. When I was telling one young woman about my visit, she asked, “I hope it isn’t commercialized like many tourist sites around the world with restaurants, hotels, snack bars, and gifts shops?” I told her, “No, not at all. Once you’ve walked up the hill from Kalabaka, your in pristine wilderness. It’s like taking an exhilarating hike in a national park. I only found one small gift shop outside one of the churches.”

The caves at Meteora are also fascinating. The largest was occupied continuously from 50,000 to 5,000 BC and was home to early man. Excavations have uncovered a wealth of artifacts and information about Neolithic humans.

So if your searching for inspiration, a trek in sublime wilderness, and a break from the tourist circuit while visiting Europe, be sure to schedule a trip to Kalabaka and Meteora. After my tour, I asked myself, "What future wars, invasions, or disasters will mankind need to hide from in caves, underground caverns, or places like Meteora?