Pefkis Workshop - Just outside Kalambaka is the Icon Factory (Link to Pefkis Workshop website)of Father Pefkis and his family, which since 1980 has been producing religion icons known throughout the world for their artistry. You'll see icons everywhere in Greece, which are reproduced exactly to match Byzantine originals. It is a skill young artists practice for years. Father Pefkis is older now and doesn't paint in his factory as often as he used to, leaving the work to his sons and daughters. But last year he heard our group was stopping by and made it a point to demonstrate the art of icon painting himself. Not sure if we'll be lucky again this year, but we will stop to learn about the deeply religious process of making and painting icons.
Kalambaka (Καλαμπάϰα) is most famous for the Meteora, clifftop monasteries. Kalambaka is the first village we stay in when we leave Athens to travel around the Greek mainland. Please try to read up on Meteora, which is an important pilgrimage destination for Greeks today. The place resonates with spiritual and religious awe that you will certainly want to think about when you journal these two days.
Meteora: Greece Sacred Mountains (13:49) Video below.
Living on the Rocks, Meteora views from Drone HD 24p (6:14) video below.
This video is optional, but well worth watching because it offers breathtaking drone footage of the monasteries and the area around the Meteora and Kalambaka.
This is a chapter from The Past in the Present: A Living Heritage Approach - Meteora, Greece by Ioannis Poulios (2014), an open source book you can access in its entirety through the library. It is a good introduction to the monasteries and the surrounding environment. Click the link below to read ch. 5 .