Meteora

Where Earth Meets Heaven: Majestic Monasteries Perched atop Towering Pillars

Greek: Μετέωρα
pronounced [mee-tee-aw-ruh]

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Welcome to Meteora

A complete guide for your vacation

The pillars of rock known as Meteora, sculpted by prehistoric rivers and crowned by otherworldly monasteries, are monuments to the power of nature and faith.

Meteora means ‘suspended in space’. Your first, second and third sight of these impossibly tall, vertical rocks will have you gasping in disbelief. But it’s not just the incredible geology that stretches your imagination. It’s the monasteries balanced on these pinnacles.

How did they get there? Well, unbelievably, the monks who built them were the original rock climbers, lifting the materials up with pulleys, nets and their bare hands. Today’s rock climbers come to the site from the world over to pit themselves against these gigantic rocks.

Unesco has declared Meteora a much-cherished World Heritage Site and the Greek state calls it a sacred spot, inviolate and immutable. But you’ll no doubt come up with your own adjectives.

Recent stories about Meteora

Perched in the Heavens: Exploring the Mystical Meteora Monasteries

A Preserved and Protected Monument of Humanity One of the greatest monuments of the world, protected by UNESCO and characterized by it as “A Preserved and Protected Monument of Humanity”, Meteora is the most important (after Aghios Oros) monastic center in Greece. The first ascetics came here in the 11th century. Meteora, however, flourished as...