There is such a very appropriate saying by Hippocrates, which I remember on lazy days: "Walking is the best medicine for all diseases." This saying also applies when the thermometers jump up to 30 degrees Celsius and you want nothing more than to soak in a lake, pond, river or sea, wander along wet shores, and roast meat over firewood late at night.
But when the weather is extremely hot, and you don't have the opportunity to get out to a body of water, my advice would be this: take a cool bath or refresh yourself in a cold shower, and still go for a walk. Walk at least a couple of kilometers. And today, despite the heat, we decided to go for a trip again. This time, we headed towards Mega Spileo Monastery.
Mega Spileo - large cave located in the Helmos mountains in the Peloponnese, at an altitude of 900m, is located on the way from the coast of the Gulf of Corinth to the mountains, to the town of Kalavryta.
We see quite modern buildings, but the history of the monastery dates back to 362. During this time, many events happened; fires, earthquakes and wars... The monastery did not stop its activities and rose from the ruins like a phoenix.
It's good we went to see this attraction in the early morning. We quickly got to the monastery, managed to see everything, and at 15.00 the door closed behind us. Turns out they have visiting hours, which we completely ignored. As far as we understand, the break is for 2 hours, but it is better to find out about this in advance.
We got to the monastery by car, but if you don’t have transport, then the mountain train begins its journey from Diakopto. According to information from the Internet, you need to get off at Kato Zachlorou station and walk along the path to the monastery.
Not far from the entrance there is a memorial plaque that tells about the tragedy of 1943, when the Germans broke into the monastery, arrested all the monks and took them to the rock above the monastery. They threw all the servants alive from the cliff. We read on the board that the youngest of them was 14 years old.
This is how the entrance to the monastery premises is decorated; it is guarded by lions. Why? It is not known exactly, but the lion is a symbol of St. Mark, so the sculptures are appropriate.
This is a truly amazing structure jutting out of the rock. Inside there is a cave, which is the main story about this monastery. Since we were not on a group excursion, we were deprived of a beautiful, connected story. However, the worker inside told us a little about the basics and showed us around the main areas of the structure.
At first, it was a church located in the monastery building, one of the oldest in this monastery. It contains the icon with which the whole legend is connected. The icon itself is unique in that it is made of wax; the main theory attributes its authorship to Luke, but this has not yet been officially confirmed.
The ancient temple is in twilight, many candles are burning, and the carvings on the iconostasis are of extraordinary beauty. The famous icon was damaged by fire, the paintings were not preserved, but in general, the appearance is distinguishable.
There is a legend about the icon. Once upon a time there lived a shepherdess girl; every time she went out to herd goats, one goat disappeared somewhere and appeared later with a wet beard. The girl became interested in this and one day she followed the goat, which led her to the cave. In this cave the girl found the icon, and Mary’s voice spoke to her.
It was planned to build a monastery on the site of the cave. The monks set the grass around on fire to build the building. But a dragon lived in the cave, the fire angered him, and he was ready to destroy his uninvited guests. At that moment, a light appeared from somewhere, it passed through the icon located in the cave and killed the dragon. Actually, the dragon did not protect the icon, but simply lived in the cave. However, the storytellers came up with this story to make the discovery of the icon more dramatic. They also say about the icon that the fire did not harm the wax part of it at all, which is a real miracle.
Then we were taken to the museum; photography is not allowed there. The museum contains religious exhibits, including the oldest handwritten bibles, and also, in my personal opinion, a cross woven from gold threads can be called unique. All the master’s work took 11 years and in the end he went blind.
Then we went outside and found a trace to the monument of monks killed by fascists. Here, in this very place, all the monks of the monastery were thrown from the cliff. All their names are engraved on the cross.
There are excellent viewing platforms there. And what views from there into the valleys below... Gorgeous!
I am comfortable traveling without a guide. To be honest, the information after the excursions does not stay in my head for long, so I had better choose to read the information myself. But I am sure that a professional guide will be able to tell you a lot about the monastery and its history. In any case, this is one of the places worth visiting, even if you are not very religious.
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With love @madeirane
Photos are taken by me.
© 2024
Really nice pictures, thank you for show us monastery. ❤️
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STOPWe have some very similar monasteries in Romania with this one. However, with a bit of luck, I might get to visit Greece next year so I'm definitely looking for recommendations. Will add this to my list thanks to you :)