History of Meteora
The cliffs of Meteora have lots of caves that were lived in between 50,000 and 5,000 years ago. One cave has a stone wall that blocks most of it's entrance. The wall was built during the ice age to keep cold winds out of the cave. It is the oldest example of a man-made structure.
In 9 AD a group of monks started living in the cliffs of Meteora. they were the first people to live there for a long time. The monks chose to live there for solitude because the cliffs were hard to get to so they wouldn't get visitors. By 12 AD there were lots of monks living there. A monk named Athanasios Koinovitis led a group of monks to Meteora in 1344. they built the first monastery. Most of the rest of the monasteries were built to avoid the Turkish occupation of the Byzantine Empire. There are 6 of these monasteries left today. The only ways to access the monasteries were to climb up ladders to the top or to get pulled up in a net suspended on a rope. And now for the pictures.
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| the first monastery we saw |
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| Standing outside of a monastery |
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| An alcove in the rock |
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| A monastery wall |
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| another monastary |
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| The view from the cliffs |
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| A small monastery |
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| Another view |
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| Dad on the rocks |
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| Us on the rocks |
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| Standing on a cliff |
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| Close up of a monastery |
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| Another close up of a monastery |
