The Monasteries of Meteora

Bags in the hallway, breakfast buffet and on the bus by 8:20 a.m. Bryan and I now have the routine down for a tour by bus. Today was the Monasteries of Meteora. It depends on what day you arrive which monasteries are open to the public. Our guide wanted to be the first people into St. Stephen. We tied with another group.

A nun took our money and made sure we understood no pictures. The church was covered with beautiful, intricate icons. The Holy Skull of St. Charalambos is kept in the church and we were allowed to kiss the box that holds it, if we so desired. The monastery began to house nuns in 1961 when fewer and fewer monks were coming to Meteora and they ran an orphanage at St. Stephen. When we entered the second chapel we met a nun who had come to St. Stephen in 1961. I left a card asking the nuns to speak the name of my mother, next time they gather to worship.

Our next stop was the Monastery of Roussanou (St. Barbara). It is a much smaller facility and the nuns process honey and sell it in the gift shop. While the churches are incredible the part that amazes people is that they monasteries are literally perched on the top of tall, thin rock formations. At least one of the monasteries is accessible by a small car attached to a cable that runs to the road.

The rest of the day was spent driving back to Athens with hopes of a settlement for the truck drivers. We encountered no confusion until we were very close to our hotel. The police had shut down Omonia Square because of protests by the truckers. The closer we got to our hotel the more police we saw.

Tomorrow morning we leave on a 3 day cruise through the Greek Islands. We will get off on Santorini and stay several days. The travel agent told me that this is the part of our trip in which internet connection will probably not be readily available. So if I can't blog, know I am having a great time or I am sea sick and desperate.