Suspended in... Meteora !

With the winter well behind us, it was time for some lingering in the warm mediteranean sun. Or at least I thought it would be only that.

In May 2007 we boarded a ferry to Greece. I heard and read about the amazing & picturesque rock formations of Meteora ever since my early days of climbing.

The rock and the climbing were my focuses then, but it took some first hand experience to see that my expectations were hardly correct.

The true meaning of Meteora namely lies in the term 'suspended in the air' - which reffers to the manny monasteries, built on top of the mighty conglomerate rock pillars that actually made this area world famous.

These high sanctuaries were a cradle of the orthodox Greek religion in the historic day, defending their inhabitants from repeating Turkish invasions. Quite a large number of them was either destroyed or got slowly degraded through time, but about 24 still stand proud until the comming day.

What I didn't realize at first was the interesting energy this area contained.

We came as turist - climbers, but after a couple of days (of preety hard whole-day climbing of course ;) I seemed too relaxed and far too energized not to notice it.

The feeling grew amongst our whole group and acompanied us untill the day of our departure.


The experience, the people, all of the routes we climbed - this one time setting - will stay with us !!