Woke up to another glorious day and headed straight up to the monasteries of Meteora that are pearched on rock monoliths. First monastery we visited was the Grand Meteoron followed by Variaam. We arrived at 9.30am right on opening time and we had to line up with many others who had been dropped off by large tourist buses. We went into the museums, one had artifacts that included crosses, paintings, icons, books etc dating bach to 1300s the other had clothing and tapestries. We also visited the church which was covered wall to ceiling in paintings, also it was adorned with many ornaments including chores chandeliers that are a traditional feature of the church. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take any photos inside the museum and church.
Line up to get in the Grand Meteoron
Lovely views from the balcony
The Holy Trinity monastery that was in James Band movie For your eyes only
Original kitchen
View back to smaller monasteries
We enjoyed another delicious lunch of local greek cuisine with retsina (local white wine with pine resin) then we visited the archaeological museum of Vergina. It was build due to the major discovery in 1977 of the Macedonian tomb of Philip II 336 B.C. Unlike other tombs that have been raided it was intact with all the grave goods.
Entrance to Philip II tomb
Golden Myrtle wreath
Next visited the new museum of Vergina, it opened early 2023. It contains artifacts from all the other sites. We find it quite remarkable that archeologists are able to find and then piece together everything to show and explain the past.
Array of small pottery figures
Oil lamps
Loom weights
Outfit pieces
Outfit pieces of the queen
We finished off the day celebrating the last night together as a group with a couple of drinks at a local bar.
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