I've been singing 'For your eyes only' all afternoon but have only been repaid with some rather strange looks. For those who can remember, the James Bond film (Roger Moore), For your eyes only, concluded on top of this astonishing Holy Trinity rock monastery, one of the amazing meteora of central Greece. The view from the top is stunning.
Our little apartment is at the base of the nearest cliff. The Satnav told me we were 600 metres away but that it was going to take 6.3km to get there! We weren't going to do some Roger Moore type rock climbing so we drove, but at 36C it was still a challenge because you have to walk down before you climb up. I can feel a sermon coming on...
The wall paintings are typically orthodox and cover every inch of the chapel's walls (no photos allowed, though one visitor showed amazing disrespect by taking photos in spite of being repeatedly asked not to do so). However, in one of the old, no longer used, monk's cells there were some far less 'professional' paintings, including this peacock, symbolising eternal life.
In this two metre cube, I imagined the monk contemplating eternity for long hours and painting his contemplations..
The very top of this rock pillar isn't covered with buildings like the other monasteries. There were no safety barriers behind me for the 600 metre drop to the valley floor.
There was a low wall in front of the cross, though!
Of the three monasteries we saw (three more to go, though at one time there were twenty four!), Holy Trinity was my favourite.
We then visited the nearby St Stephen's monastery, though since the 1960's it has become a nunnery. It's on the left of the picture.
Thankfully there were no steps to climb up to this one as there was a small bridge connecting the rock to the 'mainland'. Perhaps this was why it was absolutely packed with visitors. I sought sanctuary in the cool of the large Chapel and took some time for contemplation.
I felt the need of someone to pray for me. The sister on duty passed me several times but she was clearly focused on making sure the visitors respected the no photo rule. Jan eventually appeared and I shared my desire for prayer. She suggested a couple of orthodox priests who had just entered, but they were busy kissing icons and reliquary boxes, so I gave them a miss. We walked out of a side door of the chapel and the busy sister was there handing over her duties to the next sister. It just happened naturally that I was able to ask her for prayer in a quiet corner. Although she didn't have much English, she understood the request, but first asked Jan to join us. She then prayed extemporary in Greek for us, having established our names first. It was an unforgettable moment. The air crackled with the presence of God and again I found myself in tears. Amongst all the tourist hubbub I encountered the living God, a precious moment.
The last monastery we visited was the smallest of all the meteora, Roussanou. It had a beautifully kept garden.
Again, the views were stunning.
It was here that we encountered St Barbara in the narthex of the chapel. Some of her relics are kept there. The script around the icon encouraged readers to pray to her.
The only saint Barbara I know lives in Stevenage. I don't need to pray to her, I can just phone her up for a chat, but her passion for Christ is the same as her ancient namesake.
We drove for four hours to get here from Kavala before walking six miles and climbing 570 steps to visit these incredible meteoric monasteries and the views they afford. So glad they are on our long route home! This is the view from our apartment, Holy Trinity on the left and St Stephen's on the right.
I tried to take a panorama picture from one of the view points and a video to give some idea of just how amazing this place is.
