Meteora : The Mystical Monasteries of Greece — Trip & Trail

Deep in the heart of Greece, at the north western edge of the fertile Thessalian plain, is a place of mystical awe and medieval mystery. Meteora is the plural of a Greek adjective meaning “hovering above ground.”

This word perfectly describes a number of monasteries that are built on the top of monumental monoliths made of dark grey sandstone, some of them five hundred meters high.

Meteora Monasteries

People looking at pictures of Meteora for the first time, often think that they are some kind of artwork out of a fantasy novel. The monasteries are built like forts on the sky with no apparent entrance. It just puzzles the mind: how did they get up there, and even more mystifying, how did they build them? Back in the 14th century, when the first ones where constructed, there were no bridges or steps nor cable cars. The rock walls are vertical and look buttery smooth, how?

It all started at the end of the first millennium when the first hermits arrived on nearby caves and soon after created the first sketes (small monastic communities). Later, they turned into bigger monastic communes, and its then when the first monasteries were build. It is indicative that the monastery of Holy Trinity took around seventy years to be completed.