The Monks of Meteora
What is it with monks and their penchant for fairytale-esque remote mountain monasteries?
In northern Greece, Orthodox monks “retreated” from the advance of the Muslim Ottoman expansion and built a series of 20 or so clifftop monasteries in Meteora (“suspended rocks”). Only six remain today, all impossibly impressive and made especially famous as a backdrop in the James Bond movie, For Your Eyes Only.
At the time, the only way up was via a fairly hair-raising pulley system using nets and rope, the latter replaced “when the Lord lets them break.” Given the 1800ft. (550m) height of some, one can imagine that this only increased the urge and devoutness of prayer.
October 4th, 2009 in
Greece
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Love these photos. They paint a picture of an amazing place that is witness to amazing people.
I gotta visit this place.
I could live with a view like that.
So unreal!!!! how did they build temple up so high!
The Shell gas station shouldn’t be there! People are suppose to ride horses or donkeys at these kinda places!
Yes, this is definitely one of those places that lives up to its expectations. And honestly, I’m also baffled at how they built these monasteries–probably the scariest wooden scaffolding on earth, lol.