The first weekend of April Meteora Thrones Travel Center invited me along with the other members of Travel Bloggers Greece on a wonderful trip to Meteora.
Read here: How to get from Athens to Meteora.
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Meteora is a place of unique beauty, famous around the world for its gigantic rock pillars and monasteries that are built on their summits. Meteora is not only one of the biggest monastic centers in Greece but a place with incredible nature perfect for hiking. Although I have visited Meteora in the past I didn’t have the chance to go hiking, so when Meteora Thrones offered to take us on a hiking tour I was more than happy to go.
Check here my post: A full guide to the monasteries of Meteora.
Hiking in Meteora Greece
Our guide Christos picked us up from the hotel at 9:00 am with the company’s luxurious minivan and took us to the first stop of our hiking tour, the Holy Monastery of Great Meteoron. During the route, he told us how the rocks were created and the history of Meteora.
The Holy Monastery of Great Meteora is the largest and oldest one in the area built in the middle of the 14th century from St Athanasios the Meteorite. He was a monk at Mount Athos and after the Turkish raids to the area he settled down to Meteora. In his quest for isolation, he climbed the rock Stagoi which is called Meteoron, and created the first monastic community.
Inside the monastery, we had the chance to visit the cellars, the sacristy where the bones of old residents of the monastery are stacked on shelves, the church of Transfiguration that has some fine icons and frescoes dating back from the 14th to the 16th century, a museum with traditional costumes of the area and the old kitchen of the monastery.
After wandering for some time around the monastery it was time for our hike to begin. We were going to hike part of the western trail that starts from the Holy Monastery of Great Meteoron, passes through the Holy Monastery of Varlaam and the Holy monastery of Roussanou, and ends at the Holy Monastery of St Nicholaos Anapausas. From there you can hike back to Kastraki.
We took the path exactly next to the Holy Monastery of Great Meteoron and walked our way to the Holy Monastery of All Saints (Varlaam). The path was relatively easy to follow and we walked through some amazing nature. As it was spring nature was at its best and there were a lot of beautiful flowers and blossomed trees to admire.
At the monastery of Varlaam, we took another path that took us through some dense forest, low vegetation, beautiful flowers, strange rock formations, giant rock boulders and small springs.
Our guide Christos was telling us stories about the area throughout our walk. The views of Kalampaka and the Meteora valley throughout the walk were simply stunning. After approximately 2 hours of hiking, we ended up at the Holy Monastery of St Nicholaos Anapausas where our bus was waiting to take us back to our hotel in Kalampaka.
I found the hike challenging in some parts only because I wasn’t wearing appropriate shoes, so if you are planning to visit Meteora and would like to hike through its beautiful paths, don’t forget your walking shoes.
The area of Meteora is best explored on foot as it has a wide network of paths and trails that take you around some abandoned monasteries, hermit caves, and strange rock formations. Hiking around the area was one of the highlights of my trip.
I really enjoyed the hiking tour of Meteora with Meteora Thrones. I totally recommend it to anyone who enjoys hiking in nature. Moreover, Meteora Throne’s guides are locals and have a thorough knowledge of the area.
Have you ever been to Meteora? Do you enjoy hiking?
I was a guest of Meteora Thrones for the weekend. As always opinions are my own.
Great article and amazing photos. Good Job Chrysoula !
Thanks a lot and thank you for the great trip!
Love the shot of the dog that followed us along the path for a while!!
Me too Dave. The dog was so sweet and knew all the paths!
I didn’t realise Meteora was such a brilliant place for hiking, you usually just hear about the monasteries. How fun to be able to walk between them, so you have a goal in sight. Definitely bookmarking this for when we go to Greece, thanks!
It is one of the greatest parts of Greece for hiking. I am definitely going back for some more hiking!
Meteora is THE place I want to visit. Such a stunning location and what an incredible thing they built there.
It is stunning. I hope you can make it there too!
This place looks positively stunning! Particularly with the pretty white blossoms:-). I love hiking so this sounds like my kind of trip!
It was very nice as it is spring and everything was blossoming. Although Meteora is nice every time of the year!
Sign me up, I want in on this hiking tour. 2016 is dedicated to different hikes and walks, will add this gorgeous hike to my list. Magic seeing the Monastery perched on the cliff like that. Bet you squealed with glee seeing that?!
It was one of the most breathtaking tours I have ever done. Definitely add it on your list!
It’s gorgeous! I still regret not going here when I was in Athens for TBEX a couple of years ago…
That’s a reason to revisit then!
I would absolutely LOVE to tour some of those monasteries. So happy you had the opportunity!
It’s an incredible experience! You should try it too!
Nice post, Chrysoula! Great pics. Definitely one of my favs is the little doggie. She knew the path the best 😉
Thanks Marissa! Loved the tour and the dog was so cute!
I’ve been wanting to visit Meteora for several years now–it looks so gorgeous and now I want to go even more, lol! Looks like you had a fantastic time. I would love to hike around the area and it would be nice to hear the history and stories, as well! Thanks for the tip about the shoes–I always seem to bring inappropriate footwear, haha!! 🙂
Thanks Jenna. I hope you can make it here soon!
What a wonderful trip! And how nice to be invited on this little adventure. my boyfriend went to Greece before we met and had a bad experience. now he isn’t particularly keen to go back. But the Holy Monastery of Great Meteora looks exactly like the type of place that might change his mind. i need to show him your post.
I ma sorry your boyfriend had a bad experience. I would totally reccommend that you give it a second chance!
Never been to Meteora but I enjoy hiking! Looks like you had so much fun! Really loving the look of your blog. Xx
Thanks Trisha! It was very fun indeed.
never been to Greece, but I have read a lot about this amazing country. I don’t know where should I start to explore the country. There are many beautiful places there. you just showed me the new one
Wow! Meteora looks nothing like the island side of Greece. I feel like I missed out on a great experience by not visiting it on my trip to Greece 🙁