Mount Athos

We went by bus toward Month Athos and after 2 hours of journey we reached a little port where we embarked on a ship with other tourists, predominantly Germans and Russians. During our navigation we was followed by seagulls which were in search of the food. On the ship there where also entertainments: a pirate (not from the Caribbean) for the pictures and at the return there were live music and we danced sirtaki, which is not the authentic traditional Greek dance but it was created as the soundtrack for the movie "Zorba the Greek". We were all very satisfied by this excursion who was also well organized.

Mount Athos is a monastic Republic, even if officially belongs to the Greek territory. For the entrance it’s necessary to have a special permit which can be used only for 4 days, reason why the tourists use the ship to see from far away monasteries. Besides there is a ban for women. The number of the visitors which really visit monasteries is very limited, about 30.000 per year and the permit is not easy to have. On the peninsula live more then 1000 ortodoxs monks, all means, in the 20th principals monasteries and in the villages. Only three monasteries are not Greeks; one is Bulgarian, one is Serb and one is Russian.

After two hours of navigation we arrived in Ouranoupolis, last city accessible by land, before we reached the border of Month Athos Republic. This is the start point for the pilgrims who want to reach the Month Athos. We had a nice fish lunch in the restaurant and in the spare time after our lunch some of the participants (only few of them) went swimming. The majority preferred go shopping.

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