Best monasteries & abbeys to visit worldwide

Monasteries and abbeys were built to be apart from the world, which is why many of the most visited ones are on cliffs, islands and mountainsides. Meteora in Greece is a group of monasteries on rock pillars, each with its own opening days; Mont-Saint-Michel rises from a tidal bay in Normandy; Geghard in Armenia is partly carved out of the mountain; Rila is the great monastery of Bulgaria; Montserrat above Barcelona keeps the Black Madonna and its boys’ choir; and Batalha, Alcobaça, the Jerónimos in Lisbon and Melk Abbey on the Danube are among the grandest in Europe.