General description

The Monastery of St. Stephen is situated on the southeast end of the complex of the Meteor rocks, right above the town of Kalabaka and is the only monastery that one can visit without using stairs because the approach can be done by a small bridge.

The view from the balcony of the monastery is magnificent. Down in the valley lies Kalabaka and further away the Peinios river.

Since 1961 this monastery is a nunnery with a large and active sisterhood, who along with the rich spiritual and charitable work, can show a remarkable renovating and building activity in the monastery. An old tradition connects this monastery with female monasticism. The Swede traveler Jonas Bjornstahl, who visited St. Stephen on 3 April 1779, notes certain things for the monastery which he probably had heard by monks and nearby residents: “At the beginning this monastery was for women who loved quietism but later became abandoned until re-inhabited by monks”.