Monday, October 25, 2010

Trip to St. Dionysios Monastery on Mt. Olympus

About 10 days ago, my friend Brendan needed to go out to the Monastery of St. Dionysios on the famous Mt. Olympus, which is about an hour west of here, so my dad and I gave him a ride. It was also an opportunity for me to visit the monastery for the first time.

It was beautiful and quiet, with the monastery tucked away on the mountain and the leaves beginning to change colors.

The photo above is a shot of Brendan and me at the entrance to the katholikon in the monastery's public courtyard. (There is also a private part of the monastery, with the older, smaller church in the center.)

Here I am outside the church.

My dad standing on a balcony overlooking the church and the courtyard.

A photo of the guest house from the balcony.

A photo of the church from the balcony.

A photo of the monastery from the entrance.

Just to the right of the entrance is a well-stocked bookstore, which also contains the monastery's numerous products -- meat, cheese, honey, jams, etc. This mountainous area of Greece is well-known for its meat and cheese, so we seized the opportunity to buy some produced by the monastery itself.

Before we headed back to Thessaloniki, we were also kindly invited into the private part of the monastery to eat lunch, which consisted of some great eggplant, a traditional cucumber and tomato salad, and local bread.

For a few more photos, click here.

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