As we come from Romania and we are orthodox Christians by religion, we were educated from an early age to have a special respect for worship places. In Romania, in Monasteries, especially those placed in the North of our country, people have a special outfit: they dress traditionally, decent, meaning that men wear trousers and a long blouse and women have skirt and long blouse (or long dress) and they cover their heads. Even though this is not a rule across the country, usually people dress very decent when they visit Monasteries. But what does it have to do with the Meteora? You’ll understand now why. The rules about clothing are almost the same, not so strict as in Romania, but decent. I guess the picture will enlighten you.

Because the first stop was early in the morning, I had time to enjoy the peace at Holy Monastery of St. Nicholas Anapafsas. What can I say, what you see inside, as outside, is absolutely gorgeous. It blows your mind to find out that this was founded in the 14^th century, when there were no roads, with the technology they had back then.

The next stop was at Holy Monastery of Rousanou, where things started to get crowded, but decent enough for visit. This one was also founded in the 14^th century.

Just so you understand, if you walk on the same road where the cars pass, you get to visit them very easily. Well, as I was advancing, the road started to be crowded with a lot of cars, buses, motorcycles, few bicycles and fewer people like us, just walking. At some point, it became very disturbing. I can understand that some people can only come by car or bus, but they should protect this place more. Those buses and cars are polluting a lot and make a lot of noise. And from what I saw, some take pictures of the monasteries from the road, without even getting closer to them.

At Holy Monastery of Varlaam, I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing. In front of the Altar, there was a group of tourists (I guess from Germany) that were speaking very loudly and analyzing all the saints from the walls. I can understand if they did this maybe outside, but not inside, where some of us where there to pray. Then, another one was doing Tik-Toks, yes, inside the Monastery. Outside, all the people were taking pictures and doing videos again. Some women were just forgetting that there is a code of discipline at this kind of places. Some of them were dressed and wore tones of make-up, like they were going to the club, not at the monastery. Another group of Asians were very rowdy outside and taking pictures, I guess that they only came for the landscapes.

I don’t want to be rude, I also took a few pictures, but outside, and respecting the place. I really believe that at some point they should ban the phones and ask for peace. For example, at Mecca, they don’t accept people that are not the same religion. At Meteora, it’s not the case, but at least you can show  some respect and keep it quiet. At Holy Monastery of Holy Trinity and the last one I visited that day, Holy Monastery of St. Stephen, I was lucky enough to get first in the church, before another group of tourists entered and did the same thing they did those at Varlaam.

It is actually funny, because at the Museums, you were not allowed with phones. I don’t understand why they didn’t the same for the churches. I left the visit of Holy Monastery of Great Meteoron for the second day, as it was closed due a celebration. And, as you can guess, it happened almost the same. When I left, another woman from Romania, dressed traditionally as I described at the beginning of the text, was entering and I could only hear from her: “Why are people like this?” She was clearly amazed for what she saw, but not in a good way.

I decided to write this text to raise awareness regarding the way this place should be protected. It’s a unique destination, for what I think we should do more and show more respect, because it has a great importance and history behind, especially for us, as Christians, but for humanity as well. I hope that will not lose it’s holy significance for the sake of mass tourism and photo addictions. I was really happy to have the opportunity to visit these places, it was actually my first birthday present of this year and a dream come true, as soon I will mark a new age, so don’t take criticism as negative, but as my gift to you for better practices.