Setting and Blurring Boundaries: Pilgrims, Tourists, and Landscape in Mount Athos and Meteora

The peninsula of Mount Athos and the rocky complex of Meteora are the two largest monastic communities in Greece and among the main holy landmarks in the Orthodox Christian world. Both are UNESCO sites and, besides their unique cultural and spiritual heritage, they also host the most stunning world’s sceneries. As such, Mount Athos and Meteora constitute powerful magnets for vast numbers of pilgrims and tourists. Yet, differences in their history and in the management of tourist flows make them different too. This article approaches the two sites through the lens of landscape, destabilizing boundaries between the sacred and the secular, the sublime and the prosaic, tourism and pilgrimage.

► Wilderness and holy sites are conceptualized and narrated in ‘insular’ terms. ► Mount Athos and Meteora unique examples of holy sites with stunning landscapes. ► Landscape attracts tourists to Mount Athos and Meteora to different extents. ► Landscape plays a key role also in pilgrims’ experience in both sites. ► Fieldwork in the two sites reveals a continuum between tourism and pilgrimage.