Climbing to Simonos Petras

“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected, but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.” Philippians 3:12

This is what came to RM when remembering this climb. It was a doozy. We caught the boat from Dionysiou at 10:30 and got off the boat around 11 AM (see top photo). The top looked a LONG way off. Eventually, near the top, we passed an elderly monk coming part way down for something (perhaps to tend to the gardens) and he seemed a bit surprised to see us. (We later learned that most people take the bus to Simonos Petras -- wimps!)

All in all, we made it to the top in a little under an hour. It was raining slightly, and the wind began to whip as we neared the top. Finally, we got to the monastery and were looking for a place to collapse. But we couldn't find where we were supposed to go! The monasteries are like mazes and -- defying logic and physics -- the monastery just seemed to keep going up and up and up. The last photo is of us climbing through a tunnel (which we later learned connected the guest house with the church).

Finally, we found a monk who pointed us in the right direction. We were very happy to make it to the archondariki (guest house) and get the traditional shot of ouzo and loukoumia (Turkish Delight).