The Varlaam Monastery, the most beautiful in Meteora

The Greek monasteries of Meteora they are very famous, masterpieces of perseverance, engineering and religion all put together. And among them one of the most impressive is the Varlaam Monastery. According to history in the year 1350 a monk of very ascetic customs named Varlaam went to live at the top of this rock. There he built three churches and a cell for himself, the simplest. He left alone and apparently no one cared much about following him on his adventure because when he died the place was abandoned.

The built buildings began to deteriorate and thus survived for two more centuries until at the beginning of the 22th century two wealthy monks from Ioannina climbed the same rock and decided to found a monastery. The legend says that they had to defeat a monster that lived in a cave but the truth is that since they had more money than poor Varlaam, building it was not so complicated. They took the ruins and rebuilt and enlarged them. The first stage of the work lasted 1 years, bringing all the construction materials to the top of the rock, but it seems that in less than XNUMX month the works were ready.

From then on, the Varlaam Monastery was always occupied by groups of no more than 35 monks, but from the seventeenth century it began to decline. Today only 7 monks live. To get there you must cross a narrow bridge that emerges from the main road but it is well worth it because it is the site is wonderful and it works within a very interesting museum. It opens every day between 9am and 1pm and between 3:30 and 6pm.


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