Φωτογραφίες

In the Thessaly Valley, Kalambaka is a town watched by the surreal rock formations of Meteora.

With wisps of greenery, these gigantic sandstone and conglomerate pillars are up to 400 metres high and topped with monasteries that make up a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The columns were separated by earthquakes and then shaped by wind and water, and the monasteries on top seem to defy gravity.

Daring monks would use rope lifts hundreds of metres from the valley floor, but thankfully we can take stairways to look around these complexes, the oldest of which was founded in the early-1300s.

All the big six monasteries have churches with beautiful frescoes and you can look through refectories, kitchens and cells.

The town’s name came during the Turkish domination either after a Byzantine family with the same name, or derived from the Turkish “kale mpak“ meaning prestigious castle as some others believe. It is a prestigious castle as it is surrounded by the imposing columns of Meteora which take about 30000000 sq2.

Kalampaka is a town of 15,000 residents today. In the holiday season it can have twice as many people.