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Kalabaka - Seen on the ground in the dirt parking lot for the Saint Barbara convent near the Stone forest of Meteora. That crumpled orange colored blob in the foreground is a discarded condom, something unexpected so near the convent!

 

Need to scan paper photos and add to this page.

 

 

2 March 1998

 

 
Hello from Kalabaka Greece, 

Peace

Fred L Bellomy

 


Kalabaka - View of one of the mountain top sites of an extraordinary monastery.


Kalabaka - Another view of one of the mountain top sites of an extraordinary monastery.


Kalabaka - Another view of one of the mountain top sites of an extraordinary monastery.


Kalabaka - Sign marking the entrance to the Saint Barbara convent near the Stone forest of Meteora.


Kalabaka - Another sign at the entrance to the Saint Barbara convent within the Stone forest of Meteora.


Kalabaka - Sign marking the entrance to the Saint Barbara convent near the Stone forest of Meteora.

 

 
END

 

 

 

NEED TO ADD MY OWN OBSERVATIONS. The text below found in www.visitgreece.gr

Above the town of Kalambáka, on the north-western edge of the Plain of Thessaly, the visitor encounters a breathtaking site of impressive monasteries “balanced” on massive detached stone pinnacles, 400 metres above the ground. Metéora is one of Christianity’s holiest places as well as a landscape of outstanding natural beauty. Thousands of visitors flock to this place every year, attracted by the daunting size of the rock formations where timelessness and beauty prevail, while they seek spiritual enlightenment far away from the earthly bustle.

The “stone forest” of Meteora is a perfect combination of natural and manmade landscape, practically inducing a sense of the transcendent. Visitors come here either to feel the aura of the contemplative seclusion of monastic life, and admire a truly unique natural landscape or to marvel at the outstanding architecture of the monasteries, the so-called “architecture of awe”.

Metéora is the second largest monastic and pilgrimage area in Greece after Mount Athos. The first monks took refuge on these cliff tops fleeing an invading Turkish army around the 11th century. Several monasteries were built in the centuries that followed and all the building materials had to be winched up in baskets. Until 1920 this was the sole means for getting supplies up to the monasteries. According to numerous historical sources, there were once thirty religious communities but today only six of them remain and can be visited; other smaller monasteries, mostly built during the 14th century, are now deserted.

 

 

 

Need to scan paper photos and add to this page.


Kalabaka - Seen on the ground in the dirt parking lot for the Saint Barbara convent near the Stone forest of Meteora. That crumpled orange colored blob in the foreground is a discarded condom, something unexpected so near the convent!


Minox-B "spy" camera I used while traveling during the last millennium. It is a beautiful piece of German technology and a pleasure to fondle. Unfortunately, the resolution of even snapshots is not very good. The chain/lanyard contains beads used for precisely measuring distance to secret documents the agent is trying to photograph!

Reference photo: author
 August 2002
 

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