So I won’t lie, when Molly first mentioned this place I was not sold. It was going to take 2 days out of our schedule, and an expensive car hire to get there, and I honestly wasn’t sure it was worth it. Molly will be gleeful about this, but I must say, I was wrong. This place was definitely worth the “hassle” and money that it took to get here.

Our journey started in Igoumenista where we picked up the rental car (see my other post for a full recap of our driving experience). The drive to Meteora was very picturesque and relatively easy. You start to see the region from a distance as you drive down the mountain from Igoumenista so it was quite an entrance. The drive put us there around mid afternoon with plenty of time to explore one of the monasteries. There is a very easy driving route up into the hills, if you don’t have a car then you can hike up, but unless you are an AVID hiker I would not recommend that, just get the car. We drove up to one of the monasteries but then realized that it said to wear conservative clothing on entrance sign. So we went back to our Airbnb and changed, and headed back up.

Just for some background this area is basically these insanely tall rock formations with sheer cliffs, that for whatever reason, the monks decided to build monasteries on top of. It is extremely impressive, especially once you learn the stairs that are carved into the mountaintop have only been there for the last 30 years. The original monks had to climb up tiny little paths. How they built these incredible structures, I have no idea. In order to get to any of the monasteries quite the stair hike is involved, first down from the car parking lot, then up to the monastery.

On our first day we hiked up to the monastery in our conservative clothes (aka we baked to death) only to find out that they make the women rent these skirt things to wear anyways, since you’re not allowed to wear pants. Pro tip, just wear shorts there, you’ll be much more comfortable on the walk up and down.

Our first monastery was the Monastery of the Holy Trinity. The details here were amazing, and the view was so spectacular! Once you get up there you realize what a true engineering feat these structures are, and the whole experience is somewhat surreal. This particular monastery had a lookout point that had amazing sweeping views of the surrounding valley floor, very much well worth the hike up there!

That evening we stayed in the town of Kastraki, which is a sleepy place at the bottom of the sheer cliffs. Here is where I first felt we saw true Greece. The towns people were incredibly nice, the town was charming (but small) to walk around, and you didn’t feel that tourism was overrunning the place. We had heard that Taverna Gardenia had the best food in town and it did not disappoint. Here is where we first tried Saganaki (Greek fried cheese) and promptly fell in love with the oddly rubbery but amazing delicious dish. After dinner at the recommendation of our waiter we did a little hike up the hill behind the town and watched the sun set.

The next day we went to 2 other monasteries, starting with Great Meteoron (the largest one) and continuing down to Varlaam. These also offered amazing and unique views of the valley below. Along with being engineering feats these monasteries are incredibly ornate. So many gorgeous carvings and detail went into each one of these. However, the downside to going at the beginning of the day was that these monasteries were quite crowded as the busses from Athens had just arrived. This definitely lessened the serene experience but it was still spectacular to see. I would recommend going to the popular ones early in the morning as there will be much more parking and less people that way. The tour busses only go to certain ones on certain days so it’s worth doing a little research to beat the crowds.

As we had to drive to Athens that afternoon we did not see all the monasteries but it can easily be done across one long day or two days as the drive that encompasses them all is only about 20 minutes from the first to the last.

Overall Meteora is well worth going, but only if you rent your own car and stay up there. The large busses bringing people up from Athens looked miserable. Along with 8 hours round trip to get there you then have to deal with large groups of people going into the monastery at one time. Part of the charm of the place is having time to explore the nooks and crannys, and soak in the sereness of it all. So rent your own car, take the scenic drive up there and soak it all in, you will not be disappointed!