Closer to sky in Meteora

petraz — Tue, 26 May 2015 08:34:49 GMT

Do you know the feeling when you want to be alone for one minute and the only thing you want to hear is a sound of your breath? In my previous job as Tour Guide, it was almost impossible. I was always surrounded by curious people and their questions. However, working in Greece gave me a chance to get to know places I would have never visited.
Out of all the trips I was leading, I fell in love with one. It was the longest and the hardest one, but the satisfaction I felt after was more than anything else. Meteora, monasteries located on high rocks, was the place where monks live closer to the sky and where I used to go once a week.
Every Monday, bus full of tourists and me visited two monasteries. In majority, the second one was a smaller Roussano monastery. I always took the tourists to the best spot with a panorama view of the country, located 30m above the monastery and hidden behind a rock. We were standing above a deep abyss, looking at the view, feeling the hot sun combined with a mild, but refreshing wind. Who would not love it? A lot of people stayed there a little bit longer as after that there was a free time which meant a small pause for me. I headed to Roussano monastery, a tiny and not so touristic monastery out of the six in Meteora that survived until today. At the entrance, there was an old nun making special bracelets called kompuskini which is sold as souvenir in this region. The bracelet should bring a luck and consists of knots, while one knot means one prayer the nun says when making it.
I put on my scarf to hide my arms as it is prohibited for women to enter the orthodox churches in tops and without a long skirt. I walked through the door and at one moment I was standing in the middle of catholicon, the main church. It was a dark place lightened by candles which gave the room a mystic atmosphere. There was a special smell of history and I was paying attention to the frescoes painted on the walls. In Greek churches, one does not find statutes, just paintings which should tell visitors a story. I am not religious, but the fact of standing there alone and feeling the peace calmed me down. I just closed my eyes, did not hear anything and that was my minute a week.
I might have been tired and fell asleep immediately as I got to my bed later in night, but my mind was relaxed. One may say, it is a placebo effect, but it worked for me. I always wished to stay longer and I advise spending more time there to everybody. It is worth it.

Photos: My Scholarship entry - Germany and its features

petraz — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 09:00:00 GMT

During the first years of my university studies of economics, political science and cultural differences; I had realized that something was wrong. In spite of the fact, I loved my academic life, I started to have a feeling that my creativity skills were slowly disappearing. Therefore, I was trying to express myself in another way by capturing memorable moments or thoughts in photos and short paragraphs just in order not to forget them. Taking a look back at the last 3 years; I got to know many countries and cultures that enabled me to see the variety and colorfulness of the World. My aim is to capture as many colors and differences as possible in photos and articles. By Travel Photography Scholarship, I may put my photography ability to another level and make it available to public by blogging that I have recently started. I am the right candidate because I am eager to learn and absorb new things every day. This is based on the fact, I am always ready to take a new challenge without hesitating. Moreover, I can offer to combine and connect my theoretical knowledge with things around me which can give the photos a new dimension.

Colors of the World

Closer to sky in Meteora

Photos: My Scholarship entry - Germany and its features