Our Trip to Mount Athos

Well, Roger Michael and I just returned from our trip to the Holy Mountain. Over the next couple days, we'll post our photos. We left Panorama about 5 AM on Wednesday and took a cab to the bus station. From there, it was about 2.5 hours to Ouranopoli. Then we caught the 'slow boat' to Dafni, which took another 2.5 hours. There, we switched to another boat which took us down to our first stop, the Holy Monastery of Dionysiou.

These photos are of the beginning of our trip. The first is of the sunrise at Ouranopoli, the departure point for Mt Athos.

The second is of Roger Michael (RM) looking out the window of the boat as we began passing some of the monasteries.

The third is of RM looking off the back of the boat, with Mt Athos along the right.

Click here for a map of Mt Athos.

Click here to see all our photos in a slideshow.

RM also will add some 'guest blogging,' as I'm sure you all could use a break from me. Here's what he had to say on the beginning of the trip:

"The sun is risen on a long anticipated day. Our trip to Mt. Athos. I cannot imagine what awaits us. I have all the preconceived notions as to what a monastery is and I am sure I am probably wrong. I have come all the way to Greece for my first trip to a men’s monastery and I am glad Greg is with me to guide me along the way."

Roger Michael Arrives

Well, our friend Roger Michael arrived Saturday night/Sunday morning after quite an adventure in the skies (the Italian airline he was flying went on a 24-hour strike right in the middle of his trip). Anyway, he's been recovering from the trip and Sunday night we had a get-together to introduce him to some of our friends.

He's been taking some great photos -- here's one I really like of Pelagia and our friend Marina Harper from the dinner on Sunday night.

The top photo is of the two of us on the campus of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki today. Tomorrow, very early, we're off to Mt. Athos. Look for a lot more photos, etc. next week!

My Greek Class

The top photo is the classroom I spend 3.5 hours in every weekday. I took this photo during our break. Standing in the middle is our friend Alexandros, a German of Greek descent who moved to Greece temporarily to connect with his roots.

The bottom photo is of most of my classmates crowding around a couple cameras, trying to look at the class photos just taken. Today we had sort of a Christmas party so people brought their cameras.

We had a big, mid-term test on Friday so today was a bit looser (much needed). All of us are desperately ready for the Christmas break.

The bottom photo was taken just outside the front door of the School of Modern Greek.

The School of Modern Greek

The School of Modern Greek is sandwiched between the Old and New Philosophy Buildings. (The top photo and in the background of the bottom photo are of the Old Philosophy Building.)

They are located on the westernmost side of the campus, and the campus stretches from about the center of the city off to the east. That means that my classroom (and the Theology School, which is nearby) are conveniently close the center, particularly the famous Kamara (Arch of Galerius).

Photos from the University

My dad suggested I take a few photos of the university. I had hesitated previously because parts of it are not the most beautiful. The top photo, for instance, is of the back of the School of Modern Greek. The bottom photo, however, is the front, which makes for a much nicer view.

Part (or all) of the problem stems from a strange Greek law which makes it illegal for police to step foot on university soil. This law was passed in reaction to a tragedy which occurred in the early 70s (I believe), in which student protesters were killed by riot police. It was meant to prevent this tragedy from reoccurring. What it means practically is that the university is an 'OPEN FOR BUSINESS' sign for every sort of criminal one can imagine.

Other students have reported seeing very open drug transactions going on outside their classroom windows. If you look a little too hard in the grass, you can find discarded syringes (yes, heroin is a problem here -- although generally, it seems to me that drugs are less of a problem here than in the US).

On top of all this, students decide every few months to protest something or other (just a couple months ago there were violent demonstrations in response to some of the soccer team's player trades), and they go ahead and burn a building. Just this past Friday they torched the post office located on campus.

In spite of all this, the campus actually feels surprisingly safe and calm, at least when I'm there during the day. I guess all the shenanigans happen at night after the students hit Thessaloniki's famous night scene.

Trip to Mount Athos

Well, our friend Roger Michael Basaraba is coming to visit this Saturday, and we can hardly wait! We're planning a trip to Mount Athos from Wednesday, December 20 through Saturday, December 23, and we've had several great blessings so far.

First, my Greek teacher introduced me to a former student of hers, a Romanian monk who is now on Mount Athos. He is in the Romanian skete near the Great Lavra (Megistis Lavra), and said we could stay one night at the monastery and one night at his skete, if we wanted. (Visitors are generally limited to one night in each location.) See a map here.

When I called around to some of the other monasteries, I was also able to get a hold of someone at Dionysiou, who said we could stay there one night.

Finally, in a long shot, I faxed a request to Simonos Petras and -- against all odds -- we were accepted! (The photo is our 'acceptance' letter.) Since I don't have a fax machine (I can't get the stupid Microsoft Windows Fax to work), I asked Fr. Alexios to send it from the church here in Panorama. He was giving me a hard time about it because he said it was nearly impossible to stay there -- he and Fr. Panoyioti have been trying for a long time and haven't gotten in!

So after talking with a few people about the best ways to get around, the tentative plan is to spend the first night at Dionysiou, the second night at Simonos Petras and the last night at Megistis Lavra before heading back. It should be a great trip, if the weather holds out...