Meteora, Greece
909530790

Getty Images/iStockphoto

Moni Agias Varvaras Rousanou

Top choice in Meteora


Dramatically perched atop a steep pinnacle and accessed via a high narrow wooden bridge, Rousanou convent has an intimate atmosphere. Its small community of nuns engage with visitors by selling their jam and honey, and leading group tours. Their beautiful chapel, lit by stained glass, holds superb frescoes of the Resurrection (to the left) and Transfiguration (right). There’s little outdoor space, but it feels as though you could almost reach out across the abyss to touch the neighbouring monasteries.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Meteora attractions

1. Psaropetra Lookout

0.14 MILES

For a panoramic break while visiting the monasteries, visit the clifftop Psaropetra Lookout, 650m south (right) from the fork in the road where continuing…

2. Moni Varlaam

0.3 MILES

Beside the road a few hundred metres short of Moni Megalou Meteorou, Moni Varlaam was first occupied by the hermit Varlaam around 1350. It’s now…

3. Moni Agiou Nikolaou

0.41 MILES

The 15th-century Moni Agiou Nikolaou is the first monastery you reach from Kastraki, 1km from the village square. Many visitors, keen to press on to the…

4. Moni Megalou Meteorou

0.45 MILES

The Meteora’s largest monastery looks down on Kastraki from the highest rock in the valley (613m). Founded by St Athanasios in the 14th century, it grew…

5. Moni Agias Triados

0.63 MILES

Of all the Meteora monasteries, Moni Agias Triados, which featured in the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only, feels the most remote. A long down-then…

6. Adhrakhti

0.63 MILES

A striking solitary rock column known as the adhrakhti (‘obelisk’) commands the skyline as you look up the valley from Kastraki village. Considered the…

7. Doupiani Rock

0.64 MILES

Towering above the northern end of Kastraki, Doupiani Rock became home to the region’s first church, Panaghia Doupani, in the late 12th century. Hermits…

8. Meteora Geological History Museum

0.66 MILES

Across from Kastraki’s village church, this simple museum tells the story of the Meteora, from the very beginning of the universe. Panel displays explain…