Important Rule for entering monasteries

We would ask all our guests to dress appropriately.

Men should not wear shorts and sleeveless tops and women should not wear sleeveless tops and short skirts.

Women and men must wear long pants to enter the monasteries, women can wear long skirts.

Starting Point

Venizelos Statue at Aristotelous Square with Egnatia street

Excursion Timeline

Approximately 11-12 hours

Duration on the road

Excursion Description

08:15 Depart from Venizelos Statue (Aristotelous Square & Egnatia Street)

11:40 approximately we arrive at Meteora (230 km, with 30 minutes stop for rest and coffee)

Visit City of Kalampaka, Visit Monasteries*

15:40 Depart to Thessaloniki

19:00 - 20:00 Approximately arrive at the City of Thessaloniki End

*Visit at least 2 monasteries

VIP Service

• Guarantied groups of a few people in order to create a personal experience and offer a unique service (Max 14pax).
• Leader representative during the excursion.
• Local certified tour guide in Meteora for the best possible tour and customer experience.
• Luxury Mini Bus

mportant Rule for entering monasteries

We would ask all our guests to dress appropriately.

Men should not wear shorts and sleeveless tops and women should not wear sleeveless tops and short skirts.

Women and men must wear long pants to enter the monasteries, women can also wear long skirts.

General Informations

The Meteora is a rock formation in the regional unit of Trikala, in Thessaly, Greece, hosting one of the largest and most precipitously built complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries, second in importance only to Mount Athos. The six (of an original twenty-four) monasteries are built on immense natural pillars and hill-like rounded boulders that dominate the local area. Between the 13th and 14th centuries, the twenty-four monasteries were established atop the rocks. Meteora is located near the town of Kalabaka at the northwestern edge of the Plain of Thessaly near the Pineios river and Pindus Mountains.

Meteora was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1988 because of the outstanding architecture and beauty of the complex, in addition to its religious and artistic significance.

Since the Byzantine period, Meteora has been the ideal place to achieve absolute isolation. It is a place where one can achieve peace, harmony and spiritual upliftment. This gigantic complex of rocks and monasteries create a surreal environment unique on the planet. Over millions of years the rocks took their current form with the constant erosion of wind and rain, and because of other geological changes. Current studies show that the Meteora were formed about 60 million years ago. Strangely, the Greek mythology that gave a wide interpretation to many physical phenomena and imagined a beautiful woman living in every tree and bathing in the river waters, did not address the creation of the landscape of Meteora. Neither the ancient Greeks nor any stranger historian had tried to solve the riddle of the formation of the imposing rocks up to the first millennium AD. Since then a dynamic center of Byzantine monastic life begins its creation.

The origins of Meteora Monasteries

The first ones to use the cliffs of Meteora for spiritual reasons were Orthodox Christian hermit monks. They came to this place between the 9th and the 10th century to find quiet and to isolate themselves in the many caves found scattered among the cliffs. For centuries those monks lived in complete isolation. Exposed to weather elements and to all sorts of dangers they relied heavily on the help of the locals. They will regularly receive donations of food, water, clothing, wood, essential things to allow them to survive. The locals saw them as holy men who came to dwell in the area, worthy of their support. This early period is the first stage in the monastic development of Meteora, dominated by the ascetic figures of the first hermit monks, living unorganized and in isolation in the caves of the area. This first stage lasts for a couple of centuries, up until the 12th century, and the start of the second phase in the development of Meteora’s monastic tradition. The development of the organized skete of Doupiani in the 12th century marks an important milestone in the long development of monasticism here at Meteora. Around the 12th century, a monk named Nilos decides to gather the scattered hermit monks of Meteora into a more organized monastic community. He set up rules and cannons for the hermit monks of Meteora to follow. Thus initiating the second phase of a more organized monastic development at Meteora. The focal point of this first organized monastic community became the chappel of Doupiani, still found today standing beneath the synonymous cliff on the northwest side of Kastraki village. The hermit monks of Meteora will gather every Sunday in the chapel of Doupiani to attend the Sunday service and to share provisions. Two centuries later, in the 14th century, another monk named Athanasios climbed on the second-highest rock to establish the first of Meteora monasteries, the Great Meteoron. He is regarded today as one of the most important figures in the long history of Meteora monasteries being the founder of one of the most important monastic communities of the Orthodox Church, second only to Athos. By the 16th century, at the height of Meteora’s monastic community, the number of monasteries existing in the site had reached a total of 24. The 16th century was by far the best period of Meteora monasteries. During that time we see the largest population of monks and the biggest number of active monasteries. A century later, in the 17th century, the downfall came and for the next 3 centuries, Meteora monasteries constantly decline. Today and out of the initial 24 monasteries, only 6 remain active.