Don’t look down: Sümela’s soupy plunge at an altitude of 3940 ft...........

Don’t look down: Sümela’s soupy plunge at an altitude of 3940 ft
Access to the monastery leads up a long and narrow stairway, but there are visitors aplenty due to its cultural and religious status. Founded in 386 AD, legend has it two priests got the ball rolling here after discovering a miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary in one of the mountain's caves. Like many of our other monasteries, it fell into ruin and was restored several times over the centuries, reaching its current form in the 13th century under Alexios III. It was finally abandoned to the tourists in 1923.