Treasures of the Aegean - Day 5 (June 7) - Meteora, Greece

Our trip brochure had mentioned visiting the Monasteries at Meteora, somewhere in North Central Greece, but it pretty much escaped my notice.  I'd never heard of it and monasteries were not a subject of huge interest for me.  I had expected to be a little bored,  but fortunately I kept an open mind - I was in for a great surprise.   Meteora was amazing!  The beauty of the place was like nothing I have ever seen before.  The very fact that these monasteries were built atop these sheer cliffs centuries ago really boggles the mind.   Katia said "Meteora is the epitome of Greek Orthodox religion and Byzantine Art."

Here is one of those "boring" little monasteries!  Monastery of The Holy Trinity.

From Wikipedia, my go-to source: The Metéora (Greek: Μετέωρα is one of the largest and most important complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Greece, second only to Mount Athos.^[1] The six monasteries are built on natural sandstone rock pillars, at the northwestern edge of the Plain of Thessaly, near the Pineios river and Pindus Mountains, in central Greece. The nearest town is Kalambaka. The Metéora is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List

Basket of supplies being hauled up

The basket  arriving at the top of the cliff

Byzantine Fresco restored

 This is why I love to travel.   I see things, learn things and experience things that I never would have if I never left the comfort zone of my America!   I have literally made so many discoveries, especially as I venture further outside my cultural comfort zone.    It is always an exhilarating experience, in part because it is so foreign to me, insulated as I have been in America.

We had to climb from the bottom to the top to get to the Monastery of the Holy Trinity.  Of course, I was beginning to get used to it.  The climbing, that is. After the Parthenon and Delphi, I just expected it.

Climb up to the Holy Trinity Monastery

St Stephens' was much easier to reach, and on much more level ground.   We walked around the gardens, which were beautiful!  Then we capped off the day with lunch on our own.  We chose the home-cookin' restaurant Katia recommended and were glad we did.  They run their guests through the kitchen where there are several hot main dishes simmering away on the big stove, as well as vegetables and potatoes.

DELICIOUS LUNCH

Pretty little town of Kalambaka

Little Meteora, that I wasn't even interested in seeing, turned out to be one of my two favorite stops on the whole trip!

We had another treat in store, as this was the night of the Home Hosted Dinner with a Greek family in the nearby village.  The Home Hosted Lunches and Dinners are always among the best memories of any trip with Grand Circle that I've been on.  That, and the outstanding caliber of its Program Directors.  Grand Circle PDs are the best!  Katia made a Learning & Discover folder for us, complete with nice plastic sleeves.  We had a print-out for every island and town we visited, and I just finished organizing it and studying it.  I didn't have the time (or energy) to read it before we went, but now that I've seen what we were talking about, the information are so much more meaningful to me.  I think she must have been a teacher before she was a PD Extraordinaire.