For me though – Delphi was second in grandeur to Meteora. Meteora is a geological anomaly, that can’t be imagined. These huge rocks jut from the ground 1500-2000 feet and are about the size of a small city block. Religious came there about 1000 years ago and scaled the rocks (as do climbers now) to become hermits living in the sandstone caves and crevices in the rocks’ faces. Later, starting around the 1300s someone said – there are enough monks living in these caves to start a monastery. And so now, all of the large enough rock tops have beautiful brick and stone monasteries hugging the uppermost surfaces and then twining back down over the sides like morning glory vines. It’s truly spectacular. The only other place on earth where I felt so awed was Zion National Canyon. I sat on top of one of the rocks that we could climb out to from the road and watched the sun set over the westernmost monastery and the clouds settle down around the tops of the rocks – it was amazing. In fact, later, when I was nearly completely terrified by a donkey ride, I calmed myself by remembering the tranquility of sitting on that rock – but that’s another story.
The access to the monasteries is carefully guarded and closed from most visitors except for certain times. There are about 9 monasteries now, and they work collectively to schedule which one will be open at which time so that they can reap the benefits of the tourist dollars and still maintain their sense of aloofness. They all have to be entered either via a significant number (hundreds) of stone carved stairs or via a kind of large bucket that works on an electric pulley. I would have loved that, Pat – not so much. Once inside, they are said to have works of art, and sculpture, and they do have some, but I didn’t get the sense that they were too happy to have the tourists, and I didn’t get a sense of serenity from being inside the monastery. Maybe that’s because they aren’t happy to have women (you must wear a long skirt and one will be provided) and the places are small and the number of tourists makes the whole thing seem more like being ushered through a zoo rather than a holy place. Me, I preferred to sit on the top of the rock, as I am sure so do the monks.
