Meteora, Greece: Nearer My God To Thee

Story and photography by
Nancy & Eric Anderson 

 

The road rises imperceptibly. Here and there red rocks like in the fields of cotton putting their mark on the land as they have for 60,000 years. Here and there gray boulders stand, Stonehenge-like monoliths, sentries guarding the approach to God's magic kingdom. Now appear recurrent outcroppings of stone, and over there in the haze, on a distant hill, a village church or perhaps a shepherd's dwelling. Tethered goats chew complacently on the sparse grass at the roadside as the rental cars huff and puff through central Greece and as the Mercedes trucks thunder past. Children wide-eyed and brown-faced peer from doorways as donkeys laden with wood for winter plod down dusty streets. And, out there in the fields, farm workers play out their part as if to illustrate scenes from the Bible.

The road sign comes up surprisingly fast. Kalambaka! Suddenly upon you is the stone forest of Meteora, surely one of the oddest freaks of nature and one of the greatest works of man. Like started giants, the strange stone chimneys and rock formations of Meteora rear up, some of them more than 1200 feet high, over the plains of Thessaly dominating the medieval houses around them. But, as if this awesome evidence of the touch of our Creator somehow were not enough for the senses to contemplate, a handful of hermits and ascetics in the Middle Ages chose to build upon those eagle-like aeries magnificent tributes to God -- monasteries almost suspended in space.

And attribute to time. Because a visit to Meteora is a journey back six centuries to an age when man sought eternal life by a living death -- a twenty four hour ritual of prayer, contemplation, hesychasm-meditation and incarceration in churches soaring so high above reality that time stood still.

It was back in 1336 when Athanasius, a restless foot weary monk from Mt. Athos came upon this valley and the spectacular rocks forming its crown. Upon Platylithos -- the flat rock -- the tallest and most impressive of all the formations, he decided to build a church. Initially the group he formed around him lived on platforms supported on logs driven into crevices in the rock. There they practiced their communications with their God -- "Their only companions the rosary and ceaseless prayer." To avoid attacks by Serbian and later Turkish brigands, the monks went higher and higher until finally they reached the top, their only contact with the outside world ropes and ladders and nets in which they pulled up their provisions and themselves.

Monasticism at Meteora flourished into a wealthy community of 24 monasteries, peaked in the 17th century by which time it had attracted the best of the artists and scholars of the post-Byzantine era, then declined as its very prosperity led to jealous quarrels over its acquired riches.

Now only six of the monasteries are inhabited. The most splendid is the Monastery of Transfiguration of the Great Meteoron. Only recently has it been realized that its odd shaped windows are lenses that reflect precise lighting onto special frescos and icons at important times of the earth's rotation.

Says Lenin Nicolaides, a proud novice monk, "Our windows are chronometers good for the next 50,000 years." The six monasteries may indeed last that long. “After all, did not Matthew say, ‘That though the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.’”

REACHING THE ROCKS

Meteora starts two miles from Kalambaka 250 miles north of Athens, a six hour journey by rental car. You can fly to Larissa from Athens -- that knocks about 200 miles off your car trip. If you intend to fly Olympic to Larissa you're probably better to fly Olympic from New York also, because the two terminals in Athens are some distance apart, and Olympic has exclusive use of the best one for all its domestic and international flights. You have, however, more ports of departure in the United States if you fly other airlines.

You can travel from Athens by train or bus. Indeed you can visit Meteora most easily by buying from your travel agent a three day package from a tour company like Key Tours or Hellastours. If you're doing it on your own, book early at your hotel. The best is the Motel Divani, comfortable beds, clean bathrooms, hot food (a rarity sometimes in Greece) and cheerful staff. The government-owned Xenia is also recommended.

To visit the monasteries wear sneakers -- you'll be climbing a lot. For admission, women need a skirt below the knees and arms covered, and men must not be in shorts. Each of the six monasteries charges admission. Photography is allowed inside - even with flash - but not within the church proper.

For further information contact the Greek National Tourist Organization Tel. 212.421.5777.