Meteora - not a sailing adventure

I left Alan to complete the finishing touches to Moody B'Lou and flew off to Venice and UK for a couple of weeks.  The fortnight was wonderfully hectic, crammed full of sightseeing and catching up with friends.  On my return the boat was looking resplendent with all wooden surfaces rubbed back, canvas awnings transformed to navy, the decks all scrubbed and polished, a new fibre glass passerelle (plank to shore), plus sails set ready to leave.  I must go away more often!

However, we had to pick up our first crew and this we had arranged to do in the mountainous terrain of Meteora about a 4-hour drive NE of Lefkas.  It was an exciting journey as we drove up around sharp hairpin bends into mountains which reminded us of the Pyrenees.  We arrived at our destination just in time to meet Lynne and Gerry Bissett off the train from Athens.






Meteora is famous for its rocky 'monoliths' - these alone would have been worth a special visit.   However many centuries ago religious hermits were drawn here.  Over the years they joined forces (creating a religious orders) and migrated to the tops of the tallest rocks to build safe refuges from unfriendly invaders.  During the centuries the monks created beautiful monasteries carved out of the rocks, they also became the 'guardians' of Greek culture.   Today there are just 6 monasteries operating - they look spectacular.

Monastery of the Great Meteoron (Transfiguration), oldest and largest of the monasteries.  All the monastery chapels were quite small and totally covered in colourful religious murals  (navy, reds and golds predominated) - depicting the grisly death of different martyrs as well as Christ's life.

Lynne and Gerry in a monastery loading bay.  Everything was raised in the 'net', today this is a metal cage (to left of Gerry).  It's almost unbelievable that these monasteries were created by hauling up all necessary worldly goods, both to build and then sustain the monasteries.  We climbed many hundreds of steps (only built about 50 years ago) to visit the monastery interiors with the added bonus of spectacular views.

View from the Monastery