Metora by Best Athens Tours

Meteora is a cluster of huge rocks that rise outside Kalambaka. On the top of the rocks (over 300m) are built the monasteries of Meteora, the second most important monastic complex in Greece, after Mount Athos. Of the thirty that have historically existed, only six are now operating, which since 1988 have been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Studies show that the rocks formed about 65 million years ago. The disintegration, erosion and earthquakes then gave them their present shape. The Cave of Theopetra was created in the rocks.
The creation of the geological landscape has occasionally been occupied by many Greek and foreign geologists. However, it has not yet been clearly interpreted if they believe that soil erosion and earthquakes caused the wild landscape of the region. For space there is no reference to mythology or historical record.
The wild and inaccessible landscape was a convenient place for the Christian ascetics who settled in the area in a time that is not exactly known. According to various opinions of Byzantinologists it is claimed that it began before the 10th century. The name Meteora is attributed to the founder of Megalo Meteora Monastery, Saint Athanasios the Meteorites, who named Meteoros Platis Lytos, which he first ascended in 1344.
In general, the monastic life of Meteora was progressing or receding according to the developments and the various periods of time or history, with the result that only the monasteries of Metamorphosis, Varlaam, Agios Nikolaos of Anapaşa, Rousanou, Holy Trinity and Saint Stephanou, as well as some parts of some others, while the rest have disappeared.
Meteora, due to their morphology, offered during the Ottoman domination an ideal retreat for monasticism and saved monuments of civilization and works of post-Byzantine art. In the early 19th century many monasteries were ravaged by Ali Pasha’s army.
In the 1920s scales and tunnels were scraped on the rocks, making the monasteries accessible from the neighboring plateau, so the traditional method of communication and refueling of the monastery with ladles, ropes, pulleys and baskets was gradually abandoned.