A place to travel in Greece.

 

Meteora is one of the best destinations in Greece. Meteora is the name of this incredible region of Greece where monasteries are perched on top of cliffs.  Meteora is often ranked among the most beautiful landscapes in Europe. The Meteora is a rock formation in the regional unit of Trikala, in Thessaly, in northwestern Greece.

 Meteora attracts approximately 2 million visitors annually. The six (of an original twenty-four) monasteries are built on immense natural pillars and hill-like rounded boulders that dominate the local area. Between the 13th and 14th centuries, the twenty-four monasteries were established atop the rocks. 

Meteora was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1988 because of the outstanding architecture and beauty of the complex. The name means "lofty", and "elevated", and is etymologically related to meteor.

They are not volcanic plugs of hard igneous rock typical elsewhere, but the rocks are composed of a mixture of sandstone and conglomerate. The conglomerate was formed of deposits of stone, sand, and mud from streams flowing into a delta at the edge of a lake, over millions of years. About 60 million years ago during the Paleogene period, a series of earth movements pushed the seabed upward, creating a high plateau and causing many vertical fault lines in the thick layer of sandstone. The huge rock pillars were then formed by weathering by water, wind, and extremes of temperature on the vertical faults.

Here is a list of the six main monasteries in Meteora, Greece:

1. Great Meteoron Monastery (Monastery of the Transfiguration)

2. Varlaam Monastery

3. Roussanou Monastery (St. Barbara)

4. St. Nicholas Anapausas Monastery

5. Holy Trinity Monastery

6. St. Stephen’s Monastery

Excavations and research have discovered petrified diatoms in Theopetra Cave, which have contributed to understanding the Palaeo-climate and climate changes. Radiocarbon dating evidences human presence dating back 50,000 years. The cave used to be open to the public but is currently closed indefinitely, for safety inspections.

Vegetation grows thickly out of the vertical rock walls, mainly due to the water that one is able to find in the cracks and crevices that scale the cliff. Meteora itself does not have a general entry fee but the individual monasteries within Meteora charge entrance fees. Each monastery typically charges around €3 per person. 

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