Meteora

Meteora is a place you have to visit before you die! Meteora are actually huge rock pillars. On the top of them there are built six orthodox monasteries. Each of them is unique. I don;t have to tell you that the view from up there is amazing. When you are there, there is nothing that reminds you of modern civilization... it is almost like a journey to time!

Access to the monasteries was originally (and deliberately) difficult, requiring either long ladders lashed together or large nets used to haul up both goods and people. This required quite a leap of faith – the ropes were replaced, so the story goes, only "when the Lord let them break". In the words of UNESCO, "The net in which intrepid pilgrims were hoisted up vertically alongside the 373 metres (1,224 ft) cliff where the Varlaam monastery dominates the valley symbolizes the fragility of a traditional way of life that is threatened with extinction."In the 1920s there was an improvement in the arrangements. Steps were cut into the rock, making the complex accessible via a bridge from the nearby plateau. During World War II the site was bombed and many art treasures were stolen. Until the 17th century, the primary means of conveying goods and people from these eyries was by means of baskets and ropes.
Only six of the monasteries remain today. Of these six, five are inhabited by men, one by women. Each monastery has fewer than 10 inhabitants. [wikipedia]