AGIOS NIKOLAOS ANAPAFSAS MONASTERY

The male monastery of Saint-Nicolas-du-Repos (Ιερά Μονή Αγίου Νικολάου Αναπαυσά Μετεώρων/Iera Moni Agiou Nikolaou Anapafsa Meteoron) is the first to be visited when arriving by road from Kastraki. It's not the most impressive, but it's home to some precious ^16th-century frescoes. Set on a narrow rocky outcrop 80 m high, this small monastery is distinguished by its complex architecture of superimposed storeys. The site was occupied by an ascetic in the late ^14th century. In the early ^16th century, the monastery was founded as a hostel for pilgrims to Meteora. The ascent is via an 80-step staircase carved out of the rock in the 1930s, and a charge is made for the "loan" of cloths for women. The main attraction is the Agios Nikolaos catholicon (main church), decorated in 1527 by the great Cretan painter Theophanes (1490-1559), who is also credited with frescoes and icons on Mount Athos and Cyprus. In the narthex, note the great scene of the Last Judgment, the dormition of St. Nicholas and the Old Testament episode of Adam giving the animals their names (there's even a dragon!). The nave is also magnificent, with a wide-ranging program of the life and Passion of Christ. Outside, on the terrace, fine views of Kastraki and the Penea valley, the ruins of the ancient Agios Ioannis Prodromos monastery (below, to the south-west), the Roussanou monastery (to the east) and the Great Meteor (to the north).