Meteora

Made some friends on the night ferry from Ancona, Italy to Igoumenitsa, Greece

From there, we drove to the Meteora Region, stopping for some snacks and varieties of baklava!

 

These villages are just peppered inside the gorgeous valleys of Greece.

We see these mini churches (Kandylakia) along the road and learn they are a symbol of faith put up to commemorate an answered prayer and are uniquely Greek.

This is our room view and we're excited to visit a monastery (the most easily accessible one) in the sky tomorrow!

Greek Salad for breakfast anyone?

 

Art in the hotel of monateries in the sky. Today they have cable cars.

Meteora means 'suspended in the air.'

Everyone got out on the rocks for 360 degree views

We’re early at the monastery. They are open to visitors limited hours to help them balance their life with the tourism they know the town depends on, which boomed after the 1981 Bond: Your Eyes Only movie was filmed in Meteora. So Abby had time to swoon over the cats.

98% of Greece identifies with the Greek Orthodox faith.

In 1923 a segretative policy between Greece and Turkey forcibly moved half a million Muslims from Greece to Turkey and Christians from Turkey to Greece. It was an exchange purported to achieve peace.

See the nun picking lavender in the garden? Part of their 8 hours of work. Then they have 8 hours of prayer and 8 hours of sleep. They sell their dried herbs and spices.

To build these monasteries on 'columns in the sky' seems unfathomable to me, but the monks of Byzantine times were inspired to be close to God. The area is a UNESCO Heritage site and quite remarkable.