Monday September 20th

We began the day with a visit to two of the monasteries of Meteora. These monasteries are built on the tops of rocky outcrops and were originally accessible only by a dangerous climb or via a basket hauled up by a winch or windlass.

Because they are perched on the edge of the rock face they were given the name Meteora which in Greek means in mid-air.

They were built in the early 14th century by monks escaping persecution from Muslims in the middle East. The first Monastery reputedly took 22 years to haul the materials up the mountain then 20 days to build.



The winches and windlass for bringing peole up the mountain are still there but these days they have an electric motor and it's only used for lifting building materials and supplies as there are now modern footpaths and steps for visitors to climb.

Wooden ladder

Winch

Windlass

Net for lifting people and goods to the monastery

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Goods being lifted for builders

Each Monastery has a small church or chapel, just large eugh for the small number of monks living in he monastery and beautifully decorated with Byzantine icons depicting Biblical characters, scenes and saints.