Today I was walking from Sravronikita Monastery to the “capital city” of Mount Athos – Karies. Along the trails there are arrows pointing the destinations but the text is in Greek… Do you remember alfa, beta, gamma from the lessons of maths? It is the time to refresh the knowledge!
After 1,5 hours of the walk I reached Karies. The capital of the Monk’s Republic has in fact one street where the only shops of the republic are located. There is an old and famous church with a another holy icon and close by – the building of the “government” – in fact the council of 20 abotts from 20 monasteries. I took my chance to take the pictures of the monks here. They normally are not happy to be photographed… 🙂
Then I was walking through the mountains to the Monastery of Xeropotamou – it took me some 2 hours. Not so pleasant walk since it was all on dusty, gravel road – they build such a roads on Athos recently, changing the landscape. Sorry.
I had enough time to drink one more ouzo+water+lukumi at the monastery gate and then it was already the time to go down to the jetty in Dafni (some 40 minutes walk).
Little ferry “Agia Anna” arrived on time (3.45 pm) to take me back – along the picturesque, sunny coast to Ouranoupolis. My 4-days permit is over. I am happy and satisfied: I had a chance to visit one of the most isolated and exotic places in Europe. Great architecture, strange behaviours :), wonderful landscapes – it is all on Athos!
