The Meteora is a rock formation in central Greece that houses one of the largest and most precipitously built complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries, second in importance only to Mount Athos. The six (of an original twenty-four) monasteries are built on immense natural pillars and rounded hill-shaped boulders that dominate the area. It is located near the town of Kalambaka on the northwestern edge of the Thessaly plain near the Pineios River and the Pindus Mountains.
Meteora is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List according to criteria I, II, IV, V and VII. The name means "high", "high" and is etymologically related to meteor. Next to the Pindos mountains, in the western region of Thessaly, these unique and huge rock columns rise precipitously from the ground. But their unusual shape is not easy to explain geologically. They are not volcanic stoppers of hard igneous rock typical elsewhere, but the rocks are composed of a mixture of sandstone and conglomerate.
The caves near Meteora were inhabited continuously between 50,000 and 5,000 years ago. The oldest known example of an artificial structure, a stone wall that blocked two-thirds of the entrance to the Theopetra cave, was built 23,000 years ago, probably as a barrier against cold winds the Earth was experiencing an ice age at time and many Palaeolithic and Neolithic artifacts have been found inside the caves.
Meteora
Address: Patriarchou Dimitriou 2
Phone: 30 24320 23820
Site:
https://www.visitmeteora.travel/Location inserted by
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