All roads lead to Meteora
Absolutely everyone advised us to go to Meteora. "You know, it's breathtaking, Meteora is considered the eighth wonder of the world, if you're in Greece - go by all means, " friends and familiar families repeated very convincingly. And here we are in Ancient Hellas. This direction became especially popular last year. We began the conquest of this truly beautiful country from its western regions. We had a wonderful two weeks on the Ionian Sea. The island of Corfu hosted us. About the rest itself, which was 5+, I will write in the next story, but here I want to reveal what just sunk into my soul. Those Meteors. As it turned out, they are quite close to Corfu. We decided to visit the place with a tour. In communication with our hotel guide, we found out that after the ferry crossing, the bus ride is only a little over two hours. My husband and I were very pleased with this information. And then the guide added heartfelt: "You return to the hotel around ten in the evening. The trip takes all daylight hours. " Of course, we looked at each other, but nevertheless agreed, now I understand, we made the right choice. The trip turned out to be not at all tedious and very interesting: tiny villages and modern towns, wild gorges and neat fields float by the window. Most of the way we drive along the Greek national highway - this is a toll highway, the quality is appropriate, and the rest of the roads are almost not inferior to it. The Thessalian plain is remote from the sea and surrounded by mountains, so it is one of the hottest places in Greece, in summer it can be under 40. Therefore, various heat-loving crops are grown on the plain. Meteors start here, and at first glance, this area for some reason resembles the scenery for westerns. The town with the Turkish name Kalambaka nestles against the rocks - the Turks lived in it until the end of the 19th century, then these territories again became Greek. The bus crawls up the serpentine, and it really takes your breath away: bare sheer cliffs rise from lush greenery into the sky. This is Meteora - translated from Greek "soaring in the air. " The Greeks pronounce this word in such a way that its origin immediately becomes clear: "metEora", literally "through the air, in the air". "If you pass under a rock, be sure to touch it, after all, it is 20 million years old, " our guide says. The whole trip, starting from the port of Corfu, we were accompanied by Timur from the Kanulas travel company. A true professional with a rich vocabulary, sense of tact, erudition and very kind eyes. He gave a lot of interesting information. Here, in general, numbers are often heard that do not fit in the head, and against this background, our culture seems just childish. Up close it can be seen that the rocks consist of densely compressed sandstone and pebbles: it is assumed that once there was a bottom of the sea or a large lake. And a million years ago a gorge was formed, through which all the water was glassed, and the stone giants came to land. Their bizarre shapes are the result of wind and temperature changes. The ancient Greeks believed that centaurs lived here somewhere, and more than a thousand years ago people came here - monks and hermits. At first they lived in stone niches and caves, later monasteries were built on the tops of the rocks - this is how the monastic republic of Meteora was formed. . How construction was carried out on 600-meter cliffs - history is silent about this, and now man-made structures seem to be as miraculous as a tree propping up a rock, or a mountain flower growing from stone. Once there were 24 monasteries, now there are six left, we are shown one - the monastery of St. Varlaam. The monastery church of All Saints was built on the model of Athos temples, but it has two domes. There is twilight inside, light penetrates the cathedral through small windows. The walls are frescoed: 16th century, biblical scenes, gold and purple on a dark background. Under the ceiling - silver lamps with dragons, along the walls - unusual wooden benches with high armrests. You can't take pictures in the church, but you can in other rooms. On the wall outside we see an incomprehensible metal structure with a hammer. Timur explains: “The device replaced bells for the monks for a long time - the Turks who lived in Kalambaka at one time forbade bell ringing. ” Products, building materials and even people were lifted to the monastery with the help of a winch, rope and large nets. . Now the ropes have been replaced by steel cables, the nets are shown to tourists as exhibits, but the system is still in operation. The stone steps, on which tourists climb into the monastery, were cut here only at the beginning of the 20th century. Under the walls of the monastery there are fruit trees, an apiary and a small garden. In general, if it were not for numerous tourists and pilgrims, Meteora could be called one of the most secluded places on our planet. The trip was a breeze.
