The holy Meteora

I can't wait for Google or AI to come up with a system where, when you see something magnificent, the lens of your eyes can become cameras and capture them. 

For there are things we sometimes see, that are too spectacular to be described in words.

We got examples of such today when we visited Meteora, an UNESCO heritage site, where you find the most amazing monasteries, just two and a half hours by road from Thessaloniki (that's where we are staying) .

To get there we traveled through lush farm country with vineyards all around, through  Tempe Valley and crossing the Pineios river.

The valley is  surrounded by the snow-capped 10,000ft  high Mt. Olympus (home of the gods) and to the south, Mt. Ossa. 

That route took us through a 6 km tunnel, the longest in the Balkans.

On this trip, I actually saw a real live shepherd surround by his sheep for the first time in my life😊.

Name of the Nunnery we visited.

Meteora means raising from the sky, as that's how the huge rocks with monasteries perched on top, appear from some angles.

It's from the 9th century during the Byzantine era, that priests from the Eastern Orthodox Church started to seek solitude there. As when Greece was occupied by the Turks, (Muslims) these christian monks retreated higher into the mountains. (To get closer to heaven too?) By the 13th century, they had built 24  monasteries in Meteora.

Only six of these are still operating today.

Unfortunately we are not allowed to take pics inside these monasteries but the view from outside is unbelievable.

James Bonds 'For Your Eyes Only,' was partially shot here.

We aren't allowed to take pics inside, but I got this one before being told.

We should have visited a monastery named Varlaam today, but the police redirected us as the Olympic Torch relay which started Tuesday in Olympia, was still in progress.

There are caves in some of the rocks and various rituals take place in some.

Snow capped Mt. Olympus 

Some adventurous people go great heights to take pics!