Meteora

“The first monks of Meteora arrived back in the 14th century establishing an entire monastic community on top of giant cliffs. They chose to do this not because it was easy but because it was hard, almost impossible. And they succeeded in this great achievement through their faith.”

This quote comes from the website Visit Meteora which is a fount of knowledge about this special part of Greece. I'm so glad that I was able to bring D here and act as his guide, walking up to the monasteries. 

Today we visited Varlaam monastery and Roussanou convent. We walked all the way up along the ancient paths through Meteora's beautiful forest of oak, maple and fig. Most tourists travel along the road in coaches or hire cars, which is a shame as they miss so much, but it is not widely known that you can do all these journeys on foot as the monks once did.

We finished our day by walking to the viewpoint near the Grand Meteora Hotel, from where we could see all the rocks in the evening light. That's where I took this photo. We had had thunder and heavy rain in the night, but at last, the sun came out and the sky turned blue.

We ate again at the Taverna and were plied with ouzo. No amount of thunder will keep us awake tonight.