Varlaam monastery in Meteora, Greece. Stefan Cristian Cioata/Getty Images The complex of monasteries reaches heights of more than 2,000 feet in the air.

But it's not all gore at Meteora. There's beauty, too, in abundance, y, , in the crucifixion fresco in Varlaam's nave, which is gazed down upon by the oddly smiling faces of the sun and moon.

The journey to Meteora (a 4- to 5-hour drive from Athens) is full of steep, winding roads. Once you are standing on top of the rocks, ... The Holy Monastery of Varlaam is the second largest.

High above the Meteora landscape in the central region of Greece, 60 monks and nuns live in fabled monasteries perched on the edge of sandstone peaks. In centuries past, their place of worship ...

These locations are wonderfully dramatic and treacherous, but the Greek Orthodox Church one-ups them all with Meteora, a collection of monasteries perched on rock pillars 1300 feet above ground.

The journey to Meteora (a 4- to 5-hour drive from Athens) is full of steep, winding roads. Once you are standing on top of the rocks, ... The Holy Monastery of Varlaam is the second largest.

High above the Meteora landscape in the central region of Greece, 60 monks and nuns live in fabled monasteries perched on the edge of sandstone peaks. In centuries past, their place of worship ...

High above the Meteora landscape in the central region of Greece, 60 monks and nuns live in fabled monasteries perched on the edge of sandstone peaks.In centuries past, their place of worship ...