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More than any other site in Greece, I wanted to see Meteora. I couldn't see how, or why, these buildings were placed at the top of some equally bizarre land formations. Now I know a little more. These monasteries are not part of "antiquity", but were built around 1400 AD. Since there were 20+ built, and it took a while to climb up there. And it had to be done secretly, in the night time. The monasteries were built in defiance of the take over and 400 years of occupation of the Ottoman Turks, who promptly and methodically destroyed every vestige of the Greek Orthodox faith in Greece. The monks, in response, built and hid in these cliff top dwellings. Now days, only 6 are still functioning as monasteries. WE visited 2 of them. |
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I know this seems like an odd photo to have on the Meteora page, but I have my reasons: As you already know, I took 3 teenagers/grandkids with me to Greece. They care alot about how they're dressed. We had many discussions, and I read many blogs and travel sites about the appropriate clothing at the monasteries in Meteora. Why don't they just post this picture, which is at the entry to the site? This says it all, in a language we all understand. Because we had been doing a bit of walking all morning, I took a long skirt in my backpack and slipped it on at the last minute. It worked perfectly. |
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