Holy Monastery of Saint Stephanos

The Monastery of St. Stephanos is located at the southeastern end of the cluster of meteoric rocks, just above Kalambaka, and it is the only monastery that can be visited without climbing stairs, because access to it is by a small bridge.

The view from the balcony of the monastery is magnificent. At the foot of the rock, the town of Kalambaka stretches out, with the river Pinios in the distance.

Since 1961 it has been operating as a nunnery with a large and active sisterhood, which, along with its rich spiritual and charitable work, has to show an admirable renovation and building work in the monastery. An old tradition links this monastery to women’s monasticism. The Swedish traveller Jonas Björnstahl, who visited Agios Stefanos on 3 April 1779, noted the following about the monastery, which was certainly told to him by the monks or the people living there at the time: “At first it [the monastery] was intended for women who loved to be quiet, but later it was ruined and abandoned until it was re-inhabited by monks”.