2018 Greece 04

A couple of observations:

• We’ve heard so much history and mythology these past two days, it’s hard to separate fact from fiction.  Is this the fake news of antiquity?  Speaking of which, on these long bus tours, I’ve been reading ”How The Right Lost It’s Mind”  - a really scary book.  That was written last night. Today’s tour guide admitted that fact and fiction are intertwined in the history of antiquity.
• No matter where we are n Greece, at a hotel, restaurant or bar or just talking to the bus driver, everyone speaks excellent English. And it’s no  wonder.  In Greek schools, they study English starting in the 3rd grade.  And in the 5th grade, they take up another language of their choice – French, Italian, etc.  So by the time they’re in high school, they speak three languages.  Hell, when I was in high school I had difficulty enough talking Texan?

 

Today’s guide is Youli.  She is excellent, knows her history, Greek gods, Christianity and her English is easy to understand. 

From the town of Kalambaka our driver takes us to our first stop in the Meteora Monasteries.  A total of 24 monasteries were built but only 6 are still active today.  Greeks make no distinction between the words monasteries and nunneries.  Only 2 of the 6 remaining are nunneries.  A hermit named Barnabus may have begun to settle the area as early as 950 AD. His abode, referred to as a hermitage, was likely more like a cave and his mission was to pray for people.  His life would have been very basic and challenging.  In the early 12th c more development began with the Mother of God church and the men from the area hermitages began to flow toward this church to perform their common prayers for God, discuss their concerns and to get help from other hermits in performing their hard work.  About 14th c more monasteries were built.  Early settlers would have climbed the rocks, carrying their needed building materials and supplies.  Then a system of nets and rope ladders were used.  Ladders were finally built in the early 20th c.

UNESCO has declared this area to be a “monument of Humanity that has to be maintained”.

 

Above is Varlaam monastery, the second largest.

Below is the Holy Monastery of Grand Meteoron, the largest.  Today only 7 monks reside here.  Quite impressive, especially when you consider the conditions under which it was built.  There 267 steps to get to the entry.  You can see the people lined up at 9am when the place opened.  The church inside the monastery has 3 sections.  Non-Christian people can only enter the outer area, then the middle section is for the Christians, then the sacred area for priests only.  We couldn’t even see the sacred area.  All tourists are allowed in the first 2 sections but women must have skirts or scarves tied around their waist.  Men in shorts must don a skirt. All walls inside the church are painted with fresco and icons.  Early on many people were not literate and these frescos tell stories of the Bible

 

Above is Nunnery of St. Stephens.  Today 27 nuns inhabit and care for the structures here.  The church is laid out as explained below but the frescos are still being painted today.  The colors here are much more brilliant than the monastery.  Today they do not burn candles inside which did much damage to the earlier frescos at the previous monastery.