Sunday, June 21

Check your watch (set to CE time, of course) and add seven hours, dispose of all belongings, trade your clothing for conservative long clothes covering your shoulders and knees, and move to an isolated rock pillar. Welcome to a Greek Orthodox monastery!
On Sunday, we traveled from Kalambaka through the mountains of Meteora to Saint Stephen’s monastery. A short shaky walk across a stone bridge brought us to a serene scene of hushed nuns kindly smiling hello, bustling about and around the numerous tourists to morning prayer or other duties. At that moment I inwardly hoped that Julie Andrews, in a Sound of Music-esque way, would spontaneously appear and burst into song; sadly that did not happen…With incense wafting through the air we viewed the prized and sacred 17th century era frescoes. It was impressive to see that most of the nunnery contained original pieces considering that St. Stephen’s has in the past suffered German bombings during World War II and desecration during the civil war. Despite these obstacles, this tenacious time capsule of a nunnery has calmly carried on its practices for so many years uninfluenced by the outside world. St. Stephens is yet another unforgettable example of a Greek community topographically influenced in its order, religious practices, and culture.