Greece | Thessaly | Kalambaka | Meteora

 Update 08 / 27: USA Today has a story today about Locales Where “Game Of Thrones” is filmed. Meteora is conspicuously missing. The Greek Orthodox authorities and local monks nixed the idea of filming at Meteora, at least according to local informants (see below). The Greek Orthodox Church has near-complete control of Meteora. Even the Greek Air Force is not allowed to fly over the area below a certain altitude, again according to locals. 

Took the train from Thessaloniki south to the province of Thessaly and the town of Kalambaka, located just below the famous Meteora monasteries.
View from my hotel in Kalambaka (click on photos for enlargements)
View from the town square of Kalambaka
View from Kalambaka
View from Kalambaka
View from Kalambaka
View from Kalambaka
The 16th century Monastery of St. Stephen, in the middle of the photo, from Kalambaka. It is now a nunnery.
Monastery of St. Stephen
Kalambaka from the Monastery of St. Stephen
Four of the six now active Meteora monasteries can be seen in this photo.
Three of the monasteries
Two of the monasteries
Varlaam Monasteries, founded in 1541
Varlaam Monastey
Another view of Varlaam Monastery
Another view of Varlaam Monastery
Another view of Varlaam Monastery
Grand Meteora Monastery, founded in mid-fourteen century
Remains of Grand Meteora Monks
Remains of Grand Meteora Monks
Monastery of Rousanou, also known as the Monastery of St. Barbara, founded in the sixteenth century. Now a nunnery.
Monastery of St. Barbara


Monastery of St. Barbara
 On the pinnacle to the left is the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, founded in1475
Monastery of the Holy Trinity
If this monastery looks familiar, it is because a Famous Scene in the James Bond movie “For Your Eyes Only” was filmed here. Locals claim that Meteora’s reputation as internationally famous tourist attraction was spawned by its appearance in the 007 flick. Reportedly the current TV program “Game of Thrones” wanted to film here in Meteora but the monks, after witnessing the hubbub surrounding the Bond movie, refused to give permission. I have been told by locals, however, that some digitized images of Meteora were used as backgrounds in  “Game of Thrones” (I do not know for sure because I myself have not seen the show).

Popular posts from this blog

Turkey | Nusaybin | Church of St. Jacob | School of Nisibis

Image
The largely Kurdish city of Nusaybin is located twenty-four miles south of Midyat , on the southern edge of the mountainous plateau known as  Tur Abdin , which is Syriac for “The Mountain of the Servants of God”. It is right on the Turkish-Syrian border. Just across the border is the Syrian city of Qamishli.  The city of Nusaybin in Turkey, top, and the Syrian city of Qamishli, bottom (the border is shown in yellow). The two cities are separated by a No-Man’s Land (click on photos for enlargements).  The No-Man’s Land separating Nusaybin and Qamishli We stopped for tea on a square facing the main border crossing between the two cities. According to locals this square would usually be jammed with day-traders coming over from Qamishli to buy and sell goods. The crossing is now closed because of the civil war in Syria and the cafes lining the square host only old men nodding over cups of coffee. Reportedly the city of Al Hasakah forty-five miles to the southwest is now at least partiall
Read more

Turkmenistan | Tagtabazar | Yekedeshik Cave Complex | Part 2

Image
The Yekedeshik Cave Complex is located high above the east bank of Murghab River about fourteen miles north of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan border. “Yekedeshik” is supposedly an archaic Turkish word meaning “single orifice”. The name refers to the single entrance to entire complex. There are five floors to the complex, although only the top two are now open to the public. The entrance opens into the fourth floor. The fourth and fifth floor contain forty-four rooms, so it is probable that the entire complex has well over 100 rooms. The chambers were carved out of soft sandstone with what were apparently pick-like implements.  The really surprisingly thing about the complex is how little is know about who built it, for what purpose, and when. Almost everything said about the caves is speculation. Legends and tall tales abound of course. One legend maintains that the caves are not of human provenance at all, but were instead created by jinns , which according to Arab and Muslim mythology
Read more

Turkmenistan | Gurganj–Konye Urgench | Temür Qutlugh Minaret

Image
Wandered out to Konye Urgench in northern Turkmenistan . In the thirteenth century the city was known as Gurganj. Then located on the lower Amu Darya (the river has since changed course), Gurganj was the original capital of the Khwarezm Empire and one of the largest and most prosperous cities in Inner Asia. It  may have reached the height of its florescence during the first two decades of the thirteenth century. The well-travelled Syrian geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi (1179–1229), who visited the city in 1219, deemed it perhaps the richest and most highly developed city he had ever seen. Thus it was only natural that it had attracted the attention of Chingis Khan. In the summer of 1220 he dispatched his two sons  Ögedei and Chagaadai to the lower Amu Darya with orders to seize Gurganj and other cities in the area, including Khiva and  Gyaur Qala .   His oldest son, Jochi, who was then leading his own campaign on the lower Syr Darya River, was to rendezvous with his brothers on the lowe
Read more