you know how sometimes you can go to
certain places and feel like
this is a once in a lifetime sort of
place
i feel like i'm here right now
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well hello friends i cannot even tell
you
my elation right now because look
at what is behind me like oh
my god i have never been anywhere like
this before
before we even get into the video i want
to give a shout out
to my best friend ryan who got me a
birthday present
of a travel calendar where you have like
a new travel destination for each day
telling you a little bit about it
and one of the days was this incredible
monastery and i had just never heard of
it before i didn't
know something like this existed in
greece
so as soon as i decided that greece was
going to be my first
destination i knew that i had to put
meteora on the map so for those of you
who have never heard of this place as i
didn't
basically uh monks began climbing
these scaling cliffs in the middle of
the mountains
around the 9th and 10th century and then
it was around the 14th century when they
actually began to
organize as a group and build these
incredible
monasteries deep in the mountains there
originally was 24
different monasteries that were built
now there is six remaining
and uh the majority of them you can
actually visit as a tourist
so where we are right now is the oldest
and largest monastery
which is called the great meteorin there
are quite a few rules about uh visiting
uh the monasteries of course where um
women specifically have to be wearing uh
long sleeves and have a skirt
not just pants but a skirt so i'm gonna
be wrapping a scarf kind of
around my legs and putting on a cardigan
and i think it's kind of similar for men
where you just
can't have any skin exposed so you know
pants and a shirt
and also you are not allowed to film
inside the monastery so i will
film on the outside i guess if they let
me um but obviously inside
that's a holy place and we're not
allowed to and also very sadly they
don't allow drones
in this place which would have been so
cool like i can't think
of a cooler place to fly a drone and
there are actually some videos online
of people that did but i just don't want
to take a chance and
have my drone taken away but
nevertheless i'm super excited to show
you guys this place
so let's get to it
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so for those of you wondering how i got
here
i ended up taking a train from
athens to a little town slash city
called kalambaka and that is the main
village uh right underneath meteora here
i would recommend staying there because
there's the most
accommodation options restaurants
excursion providers all that kind of
stuff
and the site of meteora is basically
10 kilometers i think it is from there
the easiest way to see this place would
be through an excursion where they would
take you to all the different sites but
i figured since i need more time
being a content creator and just want to
explore this place
uh by myself i thought that i would just
take
the bus up here which leaves every
morning at 9 00 a.m from kalambaka
and uh basically just walk around myself
and
hopefully not get lost
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okay so that monastery that first one
was out of this world
when i was in india i went to quite a
few different monasteries and i mean
they were beautiful
but this was something totally different
i've never been to like a greek
orthodox you know monastery so that was
absolutely insane
so now we just walk down the road wasn't
too far to go
um is the second monastery and i believe
they close at three o'clock so hopefully
i get to see it
before that happens
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so here we are and
this is the second largest monastery in
the area i guess
i got lucky with where i began but yeah
this one is like
a resort basically it's so well
maintained there's gorgeous flowers
and right in front of me i can see the
inside of the church with
beautiful frescoes but of course we're
not allowed to film in there
but wow
so i just had a really cool experience i
was
inside the monastery and there was
actually quite a few monks and
nuns there and they were giving you know
a sort of talk i guess
in greek so of course i didn't
understand anything
but it was just really cool there was a
really powerful sort of energy when they
were talking
and uh this whole area of monasteries uh
from my understanding has approximately
17
monks and 50 nuns that are still
practicing and living um in these
incredible places
obviously back in the day there was uh
many more and it was
mainly for men uh out of the 24
monasteries apparently there were only
like two or three that were
open to um women but now the tables have
turned and there's more ladies
than there are men so it's just a very
interesting experience to be here right
now
so just makes me think what an
interesting
lifestyle it would be to be living in
one of these places and dedicating your
life
like that
seriously
so i just finished up at the second
monastery which is just over there
and i can't get over the landscape here
i am currently climbing
a whole boulder area um on the other
side of
the monastery because i think there's
going to be an incredible view
and it's just so special because there's
literally
no people around and don't get me wrong
i like
people sometimes but i am much more of
an introvert and i like my space i like
to be alone a lot
so this is just perfect
maybe i was a monk or a nun in a former
life
who knows i will say that it is a little
bit
precarious like i am gonna
climb up here i am gonna put my camera
away and be safe but it's interesting
that like this is a tourist attraction
and they don't put any rails or like
anything on here it's just like
you're climbing on here at your own risk
i think i'm just gonna stick with the
original plan
get some pictures up here and then i'm
going to continue
on this whole highway i guess that is
just how everybody
gets to the monasteries and uh hopefully
get to the last one for the sunset
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one hour later so i have made an
executive choice
that i think is in my own best interest
and the video will probably
turn out better if i do it this way
where it's about six o'clock
and i've reached the third lap or
see i can't even talk i'm actually
pretty tired um i've reached the second
last monastery and then the last one is
where i thought i would watch
the sunset but the sunset is like two
hours away
there's no food trucks here there's no
water and i'm down to like my last
half bottle and i am just quenching for
thirst right now
so i think it's probably best that i
actually head back
to kalampaka get supper
regain my energy and then tomorrow i
will come out again
and uh do an official sunset tour of
this
part and have all my energy to actually
give this video justice
but nevertheless i am super happy with
how today went
this site is just beyond words beautiful
so i think it's probably better that i
get some
fuel i know that i have to pack like 10
water bottles when i come back tomorrow
and yeah i'll see you guys tomorrow
the next day
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um
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hmm
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so we have made it my dear friends we
have made it to the last monastery as
you can see behind me and it's a lot
later than i want it to be it's about 7
40 meaning that i'm for sure getting
back
when it's dark and that's not the best
when i'm walking down the highway and
there's no lights
don't do what i do kids so i am going to
keep this short
i really hope that each and every one of
you
is able to come to this amazing place at
some point because i swear
i was not planning to be this impressed
by this area greece in general has
honestly um
completely impressed me and i have an
endless
list now of places i have yet to go that
just didn't work out
um on this trip so i'll definitely be
back
there's so much more to see in greece
but uh from what i've seen
so far i can without a doubt say that
this country is absolutely worth coming
to especially as a tourist it's
incredibly tourist friendly so
if you don't feel safe traveling during
covid that's totally understandable
but hopefully once things get better
i hope that you guys will consider
coming here because this honestly is
one of the best countries that i've
traveled to and i know almost every
single country
you know i say that about but greece
especially
has been wonderful so i hope you guys
have been enjoying uh these videos that
i've been doing here
i probably will have one more video
after this one coming out
i'm leaving to thessaloniki tomorrow
and that will be my last destination and
after that i will be going to
bulgaria so that's exciting i hope you
guys will continue
to join me on these amazing adventures
let me know your thoughts
in the comments so yeah thank you guys
for tuning in
hope you enjoyed it and as always keep
being your own kind of beautiful
bye guys
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well