Cruise to Mount Athos

We woke bright and early this morning to catch the bus at 7.30. A 2 half hour drive took us through a more mountainous region and beautiful lakes to the quaint seaside town of Ouranoupoli where we boarded our boat to cruise Mount Athos where over 20 monasteries lined the shore. These monasteries are backdropped by majestic mountains.
The monasteries house around 2,000 Eastern Orthodox monks from Greece and many other countries, including Eastern Orthodox countries such as Serbia, Romania, Moldova, Georgia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Ukraine and Russia, who claim to live an ascetic life at Athos, isolated from the rest of the world. The Athonite monasteries feature a rich collection of well-preserved artifacts, rare books, ancient documents, and artworks of immense historical value, and Mount Athos has been listed as a World Heritage Sitesince 1988.
Women are banned from the monasteries.
I stood at the back of the boat on the trip home looking out over the vast ocean and majestic mountains soaking in the sun and sea spray.
I enjoyed a delicious seafood linguini lunch with the Della’s and met Yvonne a sister from the UK and an exchange of stories was very much enjoyed.
Home for an early night, washing and packing as we head off in the morning to our next destination.Read more