The monasteries of Meteora are an amazing sight. There are now six monasteries which are still inhabited. We visited two, the Great Meteora built in 1382 and the Varlaam built in 1517. We set off early in the morning and walked there up a stone path accompanied by a local dog who decided to act as our guide. Once the monastery opened at 9am we then had to ascend a further 300 steps to the main door. Until the road was built the monks reached the monastery by clambering into a net attached to a pulley and were winched up. This was powered by other monks manually turning the wheel (see pictures below).
The churches inside the monasteries were extremely beautiful, the walls and ceilings being completely covered in frescos.
Some of the rooms that could be visited included the old cellars and kitchens.
The monasteries had little museums and these photos come from them. The last is a poster from WWII when the Greeks were fighting off the Italian invasion.
The monasteries are a major tourist attraction and throughout the day coaches arrive with day trippers from all over the world.