Wednesday, February 28, 2007

The Cell of St. Nicholas, in Karyes




We reached Karyes around 7:45 AM on Saturday and had a cheese bougatsa (basically filo dough and feta cheese) and bad Greek coffee.

Around 8:30, I tried again to get a hold of my friend Fr. Amilianos, since we had heard he was staying somewhere in Karyes, and we had to wait until 10:30 before the next bus left for the port of Dafni.

Fortunately, I got a hold of him, and he invited us to come visit the Cell of St. Nicholas, where he’s currently staying with Elder Joachim.

The top photo is of the cell.

I took the second photo from the upstairs balcony of the cell, overlooking Karyes.

Frs Joachim and Amilianos were very happy to meet us – they fed us every kind of pita and pastry they had and we had a VERY interesting discussion with the Elder about some contemporary issues in the church, particularly the latest so-called ‘controversy’ regarding the Athonite community and the Ecumenical Patriarch.

At 10:30, we caught the bus to Dafni, where we had a short wait before the boat returned to Ouranopoli. There was quite a bit of bad weather, and we weren’t at all certain the boat would leave. For awhile, it looked as if the boat’s captain wouldn’t be able to dock it. In the end, he did and we had a safe, uneventful trip home. (The third photo was taken on the boat back home – that’s my walking stick in the foreground!)

That’s all for this adventure.

Now I have a bunch of photos to through from this past Sunday, the Sunday of Orthodoxy, including our afternoon trip to the women’s monastery in Ormilia. Stay tuned…and post some comments for goodness’ sake! ( :

3 comments:

Christina said...

I'm posting a comment (because you asked). My mom (susan) told me about your blog. I love it. And I love all the pictures. And I love your insights into Greek people. I went to school in Athens for 6 months 13 years ago so I have experience living in Greece. And my husband, son, and I were in Thessaloniki 4 years ago (he went to Mt. Athos, I stayed with friends). I miss Greece:(

Unknown said...

Hello from Yakima! Long time reader, first time poster! :)

I've really enjoyed reading about all of your experiences in Greece. Your pictures are excellent. Keep 'em coming!

There are plenty of people reading your posts - even if it doesn't seem like it to you. :)

Hello to Pelagia and Elise!

Susan said...

Christina (my daughter) forgot to mention that her dad is from Greece.
She has spent quite a bit of time there. She dearly loves her YiaYia (memory eternal) and Pappous.
We have many relatives there.