Meteora is one of mainland Greece's most popular tourist attractions, with a group of monasteries spectacularly perched on the massive rocks above the town of Kalampaka. Many people will be familiar with the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, as it featured in the James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only. There are now only six main monasteries open to the public, and quite a few others which are now either in ruin or inaccessible - at one point the entire community consisted of twenty four monasteries. Originally the monks used scaffolding, and later nets and pulleys to gain access - the original hoist can still be seen at the Monastery of the Holy Trinity. Studies have concluded that the brown sandstone pillars were created around 60 million years ago, so the monasteries are relatively new! For more information and photos you could try http://www.meteora-greece.com or http://www.kalampaka.com. We visited in late September 2002 for a lightning quick day trip, having spent the previous two weeks in Skiathos (where we saw a brochure for Meteora and decided we had to visit). We arrived at 6pm in the evening, and had to catch the 3pm train the following day back to Athens in order to make our flight. We were up early the following morning, and found ourselves a taxi to take us round the monasteries which are the main attraction here. It is possible to walk between them, but it would have required more time than we had, and the weather was threatening rain. Our first stop was the photographic Monastery of the Holy Trinity (Agia Triada), which has a great approach via a set of winding steps carved into the rock. This monastery was built in 1475, and was one of the first. Inside the furnishing is simple, often carved wooden furniture, but the views are phenomenal and would have been even better on a clearer day. We then visited The Holy Monastery of Rousanou, built in circa 1560, which is more easily approached by road. Varlaam provides great views back towards Rosanou, and also has imposing steps at the entrance.
