We went to several monasteries perched high in the Meteora rocks. When you first look at the rocks, which look like very steep karsts, you don’t even see the monasteries that are on top. The shape of the rocks is such that your eyes are fooled into thinking that the rocks are less high than they are, so you don’t see the monasteries, made small by the distance. Besides, it is impossible to think how anyone could build up on top of those steep mountains. How would you bring up the materials? Where is a source for water? How would you provision such a place? How would you even climb up the vertical cliffs? The monasteries have small dark churches with 2 domes, and are decorated with frescoes and icons, not with statues. The church is built in the form of an ark. It is tripartite, with a vestibule, a nave, and the sanctuary. The priests are the captains in the sanctuary. The frescoes are the same in all the churches. The artists have almost no freedom of expression, since the form is preordained. We went through the monasteries of Santa Barbara and Vardun.

We had lunch at a taverna in Karambaka, and paid a visit to a craftshop that paints icons. The paint is composed of pigmented minerals in a vinegar-egg yolk suspension. The canvas is prepared with gesso and stretched an baked in a kiln. Then it is pasted on the prepared wood. The outline is drawn, and the gold leaf is carefully pasted on. Then the dark colors are painted in first, with the lighter colors last, and highlights at the very end. Hammered silver is applied over all if wanted. In order to control their brushes for fine work, the artists used a ball covered dowel on which to rest their wrists.