Meteora Monasteries Tickets

Meteora monasteries tickets cover entry to the active monasteries on the rock towers of Thessaly: the Great Meteoron, Varlaam, Roussanou, Holy Trinity, St Stephen and St Nicholas Anapausas. The post is one of the Greece Tours on Greece Ville, listed with the other Greek archaeological site tickets and Meteora tours.

This post covers what the tickets include, each of the six monasteries, the ruined ones left out, dress and conduct inside, the steps and paths between the rocks and the formats on sale. Common questions come last.

What do Meteora monasteries tickets cover?

Meteora monasteries tickets cover entry to the Orthodox monasteries that stand on the rock pillars of Meteora in Thessaly. A ticket opens a religious house on a summit, so the rules of its community apply from the gate to the church door.

The town of Kalabaka lies at the foot of the Meteora massif, on the left bank of the Pineios river. Meteora monasteries tickets cover houses on the rocks above that town.

In the reforms of 2018 the new municipality took the name Meteora, with Kalabaka as its seat. The whole massif belongs to one municipal unit, named after the town.

Inside each gate stands a katholikon, the major church building of the monastery. The refectory, a monastic dining room, and the narthex, the entrance area of a church, belong to the same vocabulary of a visit.

The earliest monks of the region were hermits. A hermit lives in seclusion, and the eremitic life is an early form of monastic living that came before life in a communal house.

• Katholikon: The word names the major church building of a monastery in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
• Refectory: The name comes from the Latin reficere, meaning to remake or restore.
• Narthex: Opening the church doors leads first into the narthex, which in turn opens onto the nave.
• Skete: A skete is a monastic community that allows relative isolation for monks but also shared services.

The Delphi Meteora tour post covers a route that joins these rocks with the sanctuary of Delphi. The sections below take each monastery in turn and then the rules of entry.

What do Meteora monasteries tickets show at the Great Meteoron?

Meteora monasteries tickets show at the Great Meteoron the Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Saviour, a Greek Orthodox house near the town of Kalambaka in Thessaly. It crowns a rocky precipice over 415 metres above the Pineios valley floor.

Saint Joasaph followed Saint Athanasios as head of the community. He added more cells, built a hospital and renovated the churches that stood on the rocks of the monastery.

A small building carved into the rock serves as the hermitage of its first founder. It stands among the larger buildings of the Great Meteoron, the biggest house, whose layout holds a wide range of structures.

The Greek name of the house is Metamorphosis. In Greek Orthodoxy that word names the event that English calls the Transfiguration, when gospel accounts say Jesus shines with bright rays of light on a mountain.

The Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican churches commemorate the event in the Feast of the Transfiguration, a major festival. The monastery carries that festival in its title, and Meteora monasteries tickets lead to it.

• John the Baptist: A chapel for Saint John the Baptist stands beside the katholikon sanctuary.
• Constantine and Helen: The chapel of Saints Constantine and Helen is an aisle-less church with a large vault.
• Virgin Mary: A third chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, sits in a cave.
• Devil’s Tower: A large towering rock stands directly south of the monastery, next to the ruins of a former monastery on Ypsilotera Rock.

Meteora monasteries tickets for the Great Meteoron therefore open a house of cells, a hospital, three old chapels and a cave sanctuary.

What do Meteora monasteries tickets show at Varlaam?

Meteora monasteries tickets show at Varlaam a Greek Orthodox monastery northeast of Kalambaka in the Pineios Valley. Saint Andrew’s shoulder blade and Saint John’s finger were reputed to be kept at the monastery as two relics of the saints.

Two brothers began to rebuild the churches of Varlaam in October, after the monastery had stood abandoned. Meteora monasteries tickets open the house that grew from that restart on the summit.

Saint Andrew was a fisherman and one of the Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. The Eastern Orthodox Church gives him the title First-Called, because he first followed John the Baptist and then Jesus.

According to Eastern Orthodox tradition, the apostolic successor to Andrew is the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. The shoulder blade at Varlaam therefore links the rock with an apostle of wide standing in the Church.

The monastery counted seven monks in 2015. That figure shows how small the communities of Meteora are today, since the house once stood among twenty-four monasteries on the pillars of the region.

• Location: Varlaam lies in the Pineios Valley, northeast of the town of Kalambaka.
• Relics: Saint Andrew’s shoulder blade and a finger of Saint John were reputed to be kept there.
• Restart: The brothers began the rebuilding of the churches in October.
• Community: Seven monks remained in the house in 2015.

Meteora monasteries tickets for Varlaam thus bring together a tale of relics, a rebuilding that began in autumn and a small community of monks on a high rock above the valley of the Pineios.

What do Meteora monasteries tickets show at Roussanou?

Meteora monasteries tickets show at Roussanou a monastery that Wikipedia spells Rousanou, a Greek Orthodox house now used as a convent near Kalambaka. It also appears under the name Arsanou and under the longer name Rousanou-Saint Barbara.

Visitors with Meteora monasteries tickets can see the ruins of Saint John the Baptist and of the Pantokrator. The term Pantokrator means ruler of all and names a depiction of Christ in Eastern Orthodox art.

In Byzantine church art, a mosaic or fresco of Christ Pantokrator fills the central dome, the half-dome of the apse or the nave vault. The ruined house beside Roussanou carried that title.

The longer name of Roussanou joins it with Saint Barbara, an early Christian martyr. Legends place her origin in Heliopolis, today Baalbek in Lebanon, and her veneration was common in the East from the ninth century.

The Meteora day trip from Athens post covers the road to the rocks and the monasteries that a visit reaches in one outing from the capital, with the stops in between.

• Names: The monastery appears as Rousanou, as Arsanou and as Rousanou-Saint Barbara.
• Status: It is a Greek Orthodox monastery now used as a convent.
• Neighbours: The ruins of Saint John the Baptist and of the Pantokrator lie beside it.
• Saint Barbara: She is portrayed with a tower, which symbolises her father imprisoning her.

Meteora monasteries tickets for Roussanou therefore lead to a convent with more than one name, two ruined neighbours and a dedication that connects the rock with the saints of the early Church.

What do Meteora monasteries tickets show at Holy Trinity?

Meteora monasteries tickets show at Holy Trinity a monastery also known as Agia Triada, a name that means Holy Trinity. The church has a cruciform plan, and a dome rests on two columns, with a pseudo-trefoil window in the apse.

The Trinity is a Christian doctrine that defines one God in three divine persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The councils of Nicaea and Constantinople established it in the fourth century.

Inside the church, white columns and arches meet rose-coloured tiles. A small skeuophylakion was built beside the church in 1684, and the broad esonarthex barrel vault dates from 1689, with an embellishment added in 1692.

Wall paintings seen with Meteora monasteries tickets include a fresco of Saint Sisois with the skeleton of Alexander the Great. The monastery also keeps a chapel to the northeast, dedicated to Saint Athanasius of Tzertzi.

The esonarthex is the inner narthex of a church. Meteora monasteries tickets lead through that entrance space before the nave, and the vault of 1689 covers the broad hall.

Saint Barbara, linked with Roussanou, is tied to the same doctrine in her legend. She had three windows put in her bath-house as a symbol of the Holy Trinity,.

• Plan: The church is cruciform, and its dome is supported on two columns.
• Window: A pseudo-trefoil window forms part of the apse.
• Vault: The esonarthex vault was built in 1689 and embellished in 1692.
• Fresco: Saint Sisois appears with the skeleton of Alexander the Great.

Meteora monasteries tickets for Holy Trinity thus open a church with a clear plan, a dated entrance hall and a chapel to the northeast.

What do Meteora monasteries tickets show at St Stephen?

Meteora monasteries tickets show at St Stephen a monastery on a plateau-like structure, completed in the 14th century and counted among the oldest of Meteora. The house honours Stephen, whom tradition venerates as the first martyr of Christianity.

The name Stephen comes from a Greek word meaning wreath or crown. Stephen was a deacon in the early church at Jerusalem, and the Acts of the Apostles is the only source for his life.

Stephen is mentioned in Acts as one of the Seven Deacons, who distributed food and charitable aid in the early church. According to Orthodox belief he was the eldest, so he is called archdeacon.

Artists show Stephen with a crown that symbolises martyrdom, three stones, a palm frond and a censer. He is shown holding a miniature church building, and he appears as a young man in a deacon’s vestments.

The account of his death says that Saul of Tarsus, who later became Paul the Apostle, was a witness. Stephen was stoned to death after a trial in which he was accused of blasphemy.

• Site: The monastery stands on a plateau-like structure.
• Age: It was completed in the 14th century.
• Name: Stephen means wreath or crown in Greek.
• Office: Stephen was one of the Seven Deacons of the early church.

Meteora monasteries tickets for St Stephen thus join a house on a plateau with the story of a deacon whom the churches of East and West venerate as a saint, and with the account of a trial.

What do Meteora monasteries tickets show at St Nicholas Anapausas?

Meteora monasteries tickets show at St Nicholas Anapausas a former Greek Orthodox monastery near Kalambaka, founded at the end of the 14th century. Deserted and ruined houses surround it, and it counts among the oldest existing monasteries of Meteora.

The ruins around the rock belong to the monasteries of Saint John Prodromos and the Pantocrator, and to the chapel of Panagia Doupiani. Meteora monasteries tickets do not cover those sites.

Saint Nicholas of Myra, the patron of the house, was an early Christian bishop of Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara in Anatolia. Tradition dates his life from the year 270 to the year 343.

He is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, children and students. His legendary habit of secret gift-giving gave rise to the folklore of Santa Claus, a figure known in Europe and beyond.

The earliest accounts of his life were written centuries after his death. Stories tell of him calming a storm at sea and of a sack of gold coins dropped through a window for three nights.

• Status: The monastery is a former Greek Orthodox house.
• Founding: It was founded at the end of the 14th century.
• Saint: Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants and children.
• Folklore: His secret gift-giving gave rise to the tale of Santa Claus.

Meteora monasteries tickets for St Nicholas Anapausas thus lead to an inactive house among ruins, named for a bishop whose legends spread far beyond the rocks of Thessaly.

Which monasteries do Meteora monasteries tickets leave out?

Meteora monasteries tickets leave out the eighteen other historic monasteries of Meteora, because only six houses are extant. Four of those six operate as monasteries, while the remainder are largely in ruin and lie outside a normal visit.

Wikipedia lists the eighteen other historic monasteries of Meteora, together with sketes, hermitages and rocks. The list rests mainly on a book by Vlioras that appeared in 2017, with additional notes from Provatakis.

Rocks surround the village of Kastraki and border the north side of the main town of Kalabaka. The term Meteora is commonly used for only the rocks around those two places.

The greater Meteora formation also extends northwest into the Gavros and Agios Dimitrios areas. Meteora monasteries tickets do not reach those outer rocks, which carry no open monastery.

The six extant houses are the Great Meteoron, Varlaam, Roussanou, Holy Trinity, St Stephen and St Nicholas Anapausas. Together they make up the World Heritage Site named Meteora in Thessaly.

The two former houses, Roussanou and St Nicholas Anapausas, are extant yet no longer in active use. The remainder of the eighteen others are largely in ruin, so a visit does not reach them.

• Extant: Six monasteries remain, of which four operate as monasteries.
• Others: Eighteen historic monasteries make up the remainder of the list.
• Sites: The wider list includes sketes, hermitages and rocks.
• Rocks: The formation reaches northwest into Gavros and Agios Dimitrios.

Meteora monasteries tickets thus cover six extant houses, and the eighteen other monasteries remain a matter of the historic record rather than of a visit, for these are the ruined ones.

What do Meteora monasteries tickets ask for in dress and conduct?

Meteora monasteries tickets ask a visitor to enter each house as a place of worship. The walls of icons, the entrance areas and the work of nuns and monks set the manner of a visit, and the dress rules follow from that setting.

An iconostasis is a wall of icons and religious paintings that separates the nave from the sanctuary in an Eastern church. The word comes from a Greek term meaning icon stand, still in use in Greece.

In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, mainly men enter the altar portion behind the iconostasis. Women serve behind it at female monasteries, and St Stephen is a convent run by nuns.

The narthex was once the place for penitents, and today the word names the porch outside the church. A visitor to Meteora monasteries tickets sites enters that space first and then passes into the nave.

The monastery dress code in Greece post sets out what to wear at working houses. It covers Meteora and the other monasteries of the country in full, from the mainland to the islands.

• Iconostasis: It is a wall of icons between the nave and the sanctuary.
• Narthex: The area once served as a place for penitents.
• Nuns: St Stephen is a convent, so women serve in its church.
• Visitors: Wikipedia records that Holy Trinity admits visitors.

Meteora monasteries tickets therefore bring a visitor into houses with a fixed order of space, from the narthex to the nave and the sanctuary, and the rules of conduct follow that order.

Which steps and paths link the rocks that Meteora monasteries tickets reach?

Meteora monasteries tickets reach monasteries on rocks that rise from the plain, linked by paths and steps cut into the stone. Hermit hollows lay as high as 550 metres above the plain, long before any stone stair existed there.

Vegetation grows thickly from cracks in the vertical rock walls of the cliff, where water collects. Older reports of easy access on foot changed, since one must now pass through an impenetrable jungle.

Rock falls pose a constant threat to pilgrims and tourists, since the pillars are massive and unpredictable. In 2005 a large rock fell and closed the access road to Meteora for days.

Walkers and riders with Meteora monasteries tickets use the same ground. Meteora is popular with hikers, trail runners, mountain bikers and rock climbers, and the Meteora MTB Race is held on it each year.

The Meteora sunset tour post covers an evening outing to the pillars and the monasteries, timed for the last light of the day, and it describes the same paths and the same steps.

• Height: Hermit hollows lay as high as 550 metres above the plain.
• Growth: Water in the cracks feeds thick vegetation on the walls.
• Rock fall: A fall in 2005 closed the access road for days.
• Race: The Meteora MTB Race runs on the paths each year.

Meteora monasteries tickets thus depend on a road and on paths that the rocks themselves can interrupt, so the access to the monasteries changes with the ground.

Which formats are on sale with Meteora monasteries tickets?

Meteora monasteries tickets appear on sale inside day trips from Athens, bus trips from Thessaloniki, a ferry trip from Corfu, sunset tours and hiking tours. Each format pairs the monasteries with its own set of added stops and its own point of departure.

Athens has the widest range of formats. They include a day trip with sunset, caves and lunch, a trip with central pickup and an audio tour, and a local-led trip for up to nine people.

Two formats add a night. One is a stay in Meteora with two tours and a hotel, and the other is an experience from Athens that joins two local tours to the monasteries.

Thessaloniki offers a bus trip, and one title adds a local leader. A further format travels by train from Thessaloniki, run by a local agency, and one tour leaves from Kalambaka or Kastraki.

Corfu has a day trip with lunch and a ferry. Other titles cover a morning sightseeing tour, a small group tour with hotel pickup, a hiking tour with a monastery visit and a sunset tour.

• Athens: Formats include central pickup, audio tours, hermit caves and sunset.
• Thessaloniki: Formats include a bus trip and a train trip with a local agency.
• Corfu: A day trip with lunch and a ferry reaches the rocks.
• Meteora: Formats include a morning tour, a hiking tour and a midday tour.

The tour cards and availability boxes on this page show live dates for every format, so current dates and open places appear there instead of in the article body.

What do travellers ask about Meteora monasteries tickets?

Meteora monasteries tickets raise questions about the age of the rocks, the rule of Thessaly, the saints of the houses and the reach of the sites. The answers below give the facts from the record in short form.

How old are the rocks behind Meteora monasteries tickets?

The rocks are sandstone and conglomerate, and the conglomerate formed from deposits in a delta at the edge of a lake. Earth movements raised the seabed in the Paleogene period, and the pillars then took shape along vertical faults, within a localised area of the mountain setting.

Who ruled Thessaly when Meteora monasteries tickets sites were new?

Turkish raiders wanted the fertile plain of Thessaly at the end of the 14th century and secured it in the second half of the 15th century. Under the 1881 Convention of Constantinople the Kingdom of Greece took the region over, which ended a period of Ottoman rule.

Which saints give names to the houses of Meteora monasteries tickets?

The houses honour the Transfiguration, All Saints, the Holy Trinity, Saint Stephen and Saint Nicholas. Roussanou links with Saint Barbara, and the ruined neighbours honour Saint John the Baptist and the Pantokrator, a title of Christ. Meteora monasteries tickets thus carry the names of apostles, martyrs, a bishop and the persons of the Trinity.

Do Meteora monasteries tickets include all six extant monasteries?

Meteora monasteries tickets belong to the houses that open to visitors. Six monasteries are extant and four of them operate as monasteries, while Roussanou and St Nicholas Anapausas are no longer in active use, so a visit to those two shows buildings rather than a working community.

Featured photo: DimitrisP67, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.