Floating Monasteries of Meteora

In Greece, Meteora's towering rock pillars hold centuries-old monasteries built by hand at their summits

- By FORUM PAREKH

The Holy Monastery of Great Meteoron

From a distance, when you catch the first glimpse of the colossal sandstone monoliths of Meteora in Greece, they look familiar. And then it hits you.

Meteora was the real-life inspiration for the Eyrie—the unforgettable aerial kingdom from the hit HBO TV series Game of Thrones.

Up close, in the Thessaly valley, a villager pauses in quiet devotion beside a roadside Eastern Orthodox shrine. For the locals, it's routine, but for those trailing behind Mr. Vasilis on e-bikes, it feels like the opening scene of a dream—one dominated by the gigantic monoliths rising theatrically into the sky.