St Nicholas Anapafsas Monastery

Why go

The Holy Monastery of St Nicholas Anapafsas is the first monastery met on leaving the village of Kastraki towards Meteora, according to the Holy Metropolis of Stagoi and Meteora, which says the origin of the name Anapafsas has not been established. The same page dates the first monks on the rock to the early 14th century and says the katholikon of St Nicholas, on the second floor of the building, was painted by the Cretan painter Theophanes Strelitzas Bathas, as an inscription of 12 October 1527 over the entrance to the nave records. Both the Metropolis and Visit Greece describe these wall paintings as Theophanes' oldest signed work. No visiting page of the monastery itself was found; the Municipality of Meteora lists a winter and a summer timetable for this monastery. This record is the monastery, not the village of Kastraki or the town of Kalambaka.