Senior Retreat - Northern Greece (Ioannina and Meteora)

We flew to Thessaloniki a day ahead of our senior retreat to explore the area.  But of course we met up with the junior missionaries for lunch before spreading our wings.  Always a delight to be with them.

The White Tower of Thessaloniki built in the 15th Century is a monument and museum on the waterfront of the city of Thessaloniki, capital of the region of Macedonia in northern Greece.

Always enjoy our outings with Elder and Sister Lamb.

Another angle of the White Tower.

Thessaloniki is a beautiful city.  Wish we'd have had more time there.

The Chapel in Thessaloniki.

Outside entrance to the Chapel.

Night views 

Aristotle University is the largest university in Greece.

Two-headed eagle symbolizing the church and state.

The Rotunda of Galerius, built in the beginning of the 4th century.

Memorial to Paul the Apostle.  Paul's travels throughout this area are marked by signposts.

An ancient Greek Orthodox Church not currently in use.  Beautiful frescos.

We attended a most lovely senior retreat where all 17 of us gathered in Ioannina, a charming little lake town in northwestern Greece.  Known for it's castle, monasteries, mosques, museums and ancient ruins dating back to the 12th century.

Some of the lovely sister missionaries. 

We then travelled to Meteora, truly one of the most amazing places in Greece.  Centuries ago, on these gigantic rocks with the breathtaking landscape reaching heights of more then 600 meters, was formed one of the most important monastic communities of Greece.  The Greek word Meteora means "suspended in the air," which aptly describes these remarkable Greek Orthodox monasteries.  Some of them date back to 1362.  They house priceless artifacts and wall paintings.  There are only six active monasteries with a small number of monks or nuns who reside on Meteora.  

Beautiful art and artifacts.

Sometimes it's hard to believe we've experienced such unique places.

This is the infamous scene from the James Bond movie, "For Your Eyes Only".  It caused a little angst looking over the railing to the depth below.  Only James Bond.

It really is hard to describe their majesty.

Exquisite gardens to grace the grounds.

You only have to climb a mere 1,020 steps if you visit all six monasteries.  We did five of them.  Quite the workout.  Some of our seniors have knee issues and only ventured to one or two.

So grateful we brought our walking poles.  Women must be dressed in skirts or long pants.  Certainly the skirt was cool, but it actually created trip hazards more than once.

Weary climbers.

Living in such isolation would be interesting.

Hearty hikers.

We survived.

Such a lovely group of people.  The majority of these people we were just meeting in person for the first time.  Because we were scattered between Greece, Bulgaria and Cyprus we only had known each other over Zoom calls so it was great to meet one another personally.

And of course we could often be found eating.  Always so much good food to be had.

So grateful we had this unique opportunity to attend the senior retreat.  It had been talked about for quite some time and we'd hoped it would transpire before our departure, so we were thrilled.