Ouranoupoli

Finally, we stopped at Ouranoupoli (within sight of the island) for about an hour before we headed back to Thessaloniki. This is the traditional departure point for the Holy Mountain, so it was nice for Pelagia to be able to see it. There’s really not too much there – in a strange combination, it caters as much to the German tourists looking for great beaches as to Orthodox pilgrims.

I ended up having a coffee with the priests. I had a really interesting conversation with Fr Panayoti, the second priest at our parish. Our little town of Panorama has a population of 28,000 (27,997 of which are undoubtedly Orthodox). There are two parishes in Panorama to serve them, each with two priests. So that means that each priest has about 7000 faithful to care for.

Just at our parish of St George’s, he told me, there are about 60 funerals and 70 baptisms a year (more than one of each per week). Additionally, there are about 15-20 weddings a year (many people in Panorama opt to have their wedding downtown at a big church like St Gregory Palamas or St Demetrios).

And the clergy in the US thought they had it hard! ( ;

The top and bottom photos are of the old fortress in Ouranoupoli, located right at the port. The middle photo is of the local parish for the residents of Ouranoupoli.