Rich in Creation

Kalespera, or good evening from Dephi, Greece! This morning we left Meteora and made our way south to Delphi and casually stopped by some monasteries on the way.

Monasteries are built in secluded places meant to provide monks and nuns with complete isolation and harmony with God. Ever since early Christian times, Meteora was the perfect place for this with its beauty and solitude.

Far view 6th

As seen in the pictures, the monasteries display intricate architecture from both up close and far away. This intricacy is consistent with every orthodox monastery in Meteora. Today, we learned that the consistency falls in line with the Byzantine architecture. Whether the monastery is 100 years old or 10 years old, these buildings are all intricately detailed with the same iconography.

We were unable to capture the beauty of the iconography inside the building, so you will have to take our word for it ;). We learned that the placement of the icons were constant throughout each building. Slight style may change from one building to the next but the representation of the icons were the exact same.

The preservation of this historic style is just one example of the culture’s respect and admiration for history and religion.

Throughout the entirety of this cross-cultural trip, we (Hannah and Morgan) have seen this repeatedly, whether in Athens with the Acropolis, Olympia with the ancient Olympic stadium or in the Old Town of Rhodes. The mixture of history and beauty in this country is both unique and significant.

Both of us have been completely amazed with this place and how rich and evident this history is and how modern Greece culture is intertwined with the ruins and historic scenes.

The historic aspects interfered with the everyday modern development of the country. While we where is Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece, we saw that they are having difficulties with building a metro system. The city began to dig and construct the metro when they found ancient ruins. This makes the continuous pursuit of a modernizing the the populated city difficult and causes dispute of whether to continue the construction or preserve the ruins.

Despite the challenge in modernizing the country, the modern culture being intertwined with the history and ancient ruins makes the country that much more beautiful and is an everyday reminder of the beautiful history of the country for its citizens and visitors.

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