Day 6: Exploring Religion in Greece

This morning started off a little earlier that the last few with a departure time of 8 a.m.. As we met our guide, Eleni, I was sure that our day would be enjoyable. Eleni is an archeologist and a registered guide, which gives her a unique perspective on the history of places. The histories that she told us were intriguing and I cannot wait to research more at a later date.

As we left the city, Eleni gave us a brief history of Thessaloniki. Thessaloniki was founded in 350 B.C by one of the men of Alexander the Great and has 23 centuries of continuous history. The city has gone through many changes throughout its history with the changes in power. It has continually been an important city and port through most of these empires. It is often considered where East meets West, both in terms of culture and trade. Today, one of the largest sections of the population is students as Thessaloniki is home to Aristotle University, the largest university in the Balkans. This allows the city to have a great night life and allows students a place to learn with many peers.

     

As we move further away from the city, we approached Mount Olympus. This amazing mountain stands tall above the surrounding areas. The first to officially summit Mount Olympus were two Swiss explorers led by a local Goat Herder in 1913. The majestic mountains of the area are just now starting to gain great popularity with recreational activities. With this increase of recreation, the communities are struggling to keep up with infrastructure to support these activities. Currently, there is no official mountain rescue. Unofficial mountain rescues are the only safety net to help adventurers if something goes wrong. Communities are excited about this increase of recreational activities and support this transition, however, much must be done to support these activities. Mount Olympus has also been used as a strategic point during conflict in the area. It is an ideal mountain for guerilla warfare, giving locals an advantage over invaders. Overall, Mount Olympus has a rich history that matches its beauty.

  
As Olympus passes out of site, we pulled over to the site of the road.    Five-hundred meter tall rock walls stand on either side of this country road. Their impressive height shows the how the river below as long run this same path. This is the Veil of Tempi. Here, hidden in the walls sits a church funded by infrastructure workers after a rockslide where no one was injured. The spring found in a cave is considered purifying. The springs flowing from the mountain are called the Springs of Daphne after the myths of Apollo and nymphs. This little scene found in the mountains would be nearly impossible to find without prior knowledge but it was mystic and I was very happy we were able to visit this little place.
 

Following the country road out of the Veil of Tempi we had enough time for a power nap before we reached Meteora. Meteora is both a Natural UNESCO World Heritage Site and a Cultural UNESCO World Heritage Site. As we got our first peak at the mountains, I could tell why as my breath was taken away by the monasteries which seem to naturally rise up out of the rock. To give some background, the monasteries here have their origins in the sixth century A.D. when a monk who decided to free climb the rocks to live alone in a cave. The first monastery community was founded on the largest rock in the area during the mid-fourteenth century. At their most popular, there were 24 monasteries with the largest having 300 monks. After many conflicts with forces outside the monastery walls, the monasteries were destroyed through bombing, raiding, and fire-fights within the churches. Communities have slowly reassembled over the past few decades, but numbers are still low with around three to fifteen in a community. Today only six of these communities are still active, two of which are now convents.

  

 

 The first community that we visited was a convent called Saint Stevens. As we entered, the ladies had to adorn skirts to be respectful towards their culture. I was thankful that this was the only additional requirement because women were only permitted to visit in 1948, which is not long ago given the long history of these religious communities. This convent is in the process of restoration, at least in the main church. The old church still has the bullet holes in the wall from the fights that happened here during the post-World War II conflicts in Greece. This church is only open for special celebrations while the main church is used daily by the nuns and visitors.
 
Our final stop in Meteora was the Varlaam community. This is the second tallest monastery currently and has one of the larger communities with around sixteen monks. This monastery has some very interesting facts associated with it. Firstly, in the church there are authentic sixteenth century frescoes original from the time in which it was built. Secondly, it took twenty-two years to accumulate the materials to build the church and only twenty days to build the church. This is because during the time in which this monastery was built the Ottoman Turks were in power. Thus, any non-Muslims would have to have a permit to build non-Muslim religious temples and such permits had a time limit often of twenty days. The monks of this community made sure to make every moment count when they had their permit. Inside the church, many of the frescoes documented interesting details that added to the visual story of the bible. Overall, this monastery had many pieces of history well preserved to be observed still today.

After seeing these beautiful sites, we traveled back into the town below to have an authentic Greek lunch with our guide. It was very delicious and filling with salads, fried potatoes, souvlaki, and more being shared around the table. All the good food made for a good rest on our way back into Thessaloniki, amazed at how much we had seen today.