The monastery approaches

Six of Meteora's monasteries are alive and open to visitors, and for photography the approaches outdo the interiors: the long stone stairways cut into the rock in the early twentieth century — before them, monks came up by rope ladder and net — the bridge across to Roussanou, the steps winding up the pillar to Varlaam, the switchbacks below Great Meteoron. Architecture, cliff and distance compose at every turn, with walkers on the stairs for scale.

Work them from outside as much as inside. The approach paths and the road below give frames of the whole improbable arrangement — buildings grown out of rock summits — while the stairways themselves make walking shots with real drama. Mornings beat afternoons: coach tours stack up from mid-morning, and the stairs are slow when full. Each monastery also closes one day of the week, and the days differ — check the current schedule when planning, or the itinerary dies at a locked gate.

The dress code is enforced, not suggested: shoulders and knees covered for everyone, and women are asked to wear skirts — wraps are lent at the entrances, but a couple who dresses for it keeps their own look in the pictures. Photography inside the churches is generally forbidden; respect it without testing, and keep voices down at the gates — these are working religious houses first, and locations a distant second.