Pictures don't do it justice..

Today we went on an all day field trip to one of the most breathtaking places I've ever been. Imagine monasteries basically being "suspended in the air", meaning they are built on top of giant pillars of rock. Also imagine that these were built beginning in the 13th century, and people once had to be hoisted up by nets in order to reach the top... Okay, stop imagining. Obviously that's the reality of what I witnessed today. They are called the Meteora Monasteries, and they are visited every year by thousands upon thousands of tourists. The photos can speak for themselves, although I do mean it when I say you'd have to be there to understand just how phenomenal they truly were..

The Holy Monastery of Varlaam. All of them were constructed atop large rocks such as the one pictured here.

Skulls of past residents of the monastery... kind of creepy?

The Holy Monastery of St. Stephen

The Holy Monastery of Meteoron. This was the first one constructed, and also the largest. To the left of the flag pole is a tower that they used to hoist materials up the side of using a net. This place was incredible, to say the least.

beautiful botany.

You can't wear short length dresses or have your shoulders showing. Enough said?

view of the rocks from the town we visited afterwards

A monk, and a nun! It was actually really great to see them, I found it fascinating.

There are ten monasteries total, I believe. All of them except for one are filled with male monks, while the last is filled with female nuns. It was hands down one of the biggest highlights of my trip!

I'll be posting again next week... until then I love you and miss you all :)

Rochelle