CONVENTS OF METEORA. 145 



CHAPTER VII. 



CONVENTS OF METEORA ASCENT IN A NET — TRICALA KHANS 



HORSES — PLAIN OF THESSALY DESOLATE AND DEPOPULATED 



STATE OF THE COUNTRY MIGHT MAKES RIGHT — CORN FIELDS 



AND PASTURE LAND KRAVARIOTS LARISSA. 



The convents of Meteora are so curiously situ- 

 ated on the tops of very high and pointed rocks, 

 and the rocks themselves on which the convents 

 stand are of so remarkable a shape, that I fear 

 much no description I can give will enable any 

 one to form an idea of them. 



A ride of about four hours from the snow- 

 enclosed khan on the top of the Pindus, brought 

 us to the open plain; we were descending the 

 banks of the Peneus, and, after gradually opening 

 out into a more level country than that we had 

 left behind us, the mountains seemed entirely to 

 have disappeared in our front, and the boundless 

 Plain of Thessaly lay open to our view. In this 

 plain, at a short distance, as we imagined, from the 



H 



