Fifty-six, fifty-seven, fifty-eight . . . I have to stop to catch my breath. With fifty-eight stairs behind me, I have yet to face another 137 to reach my final target: the holy monastery of Varlaam, ...

Fifty-six, 57, 58 . . . I have to stop to catch my breath. With 58 stairs behind me, I have 137 more to go to reach my final target: The holy monastery of Varlaam, one of only six of the original 24 ...

Carved right into the rock, up on a cliffside or overlooking the valley from atop a rocky promontory... In the Balkans, from mainland Greece to Bulgaria, there are plenty of isolated hilltop ...