Metéora consists of about 60 huge columns of rock, up to 984 feet high, many large enough for a monastery to be built on the top. Starting about the year 1000, and extending into the 1500’s, 24 monasteries were built, but now only four are inhabited. Since the monks wanted to be alone, until recently access was by means of very long ladders or a basket or net suspended on a rope. Now they have added staircases with hundreds of steps, but for a tourist, it’s well worth the climb.

The large monasteries look tiny on the tip of these peaks. Drove up the steep twisty hairpin roads stopping to take pictures, and stopping for breakfast overlooking The Varlaám monastery, a little below the Megálo Metéoro, the largest of the group of monasteries. We later walked up hundreds of steps to visit these two ancient sites.