Pictures!

I got an opportunity to upload a few pictures for you guys. I picked out some that I like, but I have more than 2000 now, so it's tough to sort through all of them on the fly.


A picture of souvenirs for sale in central Turkey.


A picture of the ruins of a church in Ephesus. The four pillars and low platform in the foreground are over the grave of the apostle John. The grate is an airshaft for an underground passage to the actual grave. It was locked.


A shot of the monastery on the top of Patmos. A little hazy that day. The white buildings are the old city around the monastery (it's like a maze) and the castle in the middle is the monastery itself. It was built like this to repel pirate raids and protect the treasures of the monastery.


Me enjoying myself on top of Mars Hill in Athens. Things like the Acropolis in the background. It was all up in scaffolding while I was there.


Simonos Petras monastery on Mt Athos. This one is the new kid on the block among Mt. Athos' 20 monasteries, as it was built in the 13th century. Simon, the hermit who founded it, wanted to name it New Bethlehem. The name didn't stick. Instead, everyone started calling it Simonos Petras - Simon's Rock.


The view from the garden balcony at Simonos Petras, where I spent the evening drinking tea and talking literature with an American monk. When you commit to a monastery as a monk, the vows are like marriage - you commit to that specific place for the rest of your life. If you must commit to a specific monastery, they chose a beautiful spot. Shot in color.


Dionysiou monastery. Stayed here for one night and made it my base for the hike to Simonos Petras. Location, location, location.


The border crossing between Greece and Macedonia. That's my train. We stopped for a few moments to get passports and stuff sorted out.


I spotted this on a truck on the island of Samos, Greece. It must be a political advertisement, but I don't get it. That home cooking feel? Comfort food?

What the heck is he talking about?

There's a guide to Mt. Athos on wikipedia: click here.

It might be helpful in looking up some of this stuff, or finding a map, or whatever. There's a lot of information on there that's interesting.

Athos

Time to catch you up on my experiences on the holy mountain. I feel a need to earn my keep somehow, so I'm considering this blog post sort of like homework. That doesn't mean I don't want to do it - hardly. These days I wish I had homework, and I'm excited to have found some.

I arrived on Mt. Athos after two days in the coastal town of Ouranoupolis. The only way to access the peninsula is by ferry, and the ride from Ouranoupolis took about two hours. I met a Greek-American guy on the way over, doing a sort of pilgrimage of his own, and that turned out to be very helpful for the first few days. I arrived at the port of Dafni, the sort of central port on the peninsula (though it's all of four buildings or so) with no plans whatsoever. Many people plan their stops and places to stay as much as six months in advance, so maybe that was a sort of foolish thing to do...whatever.

My Greek-American friend asked around a little bit. I was planning to walk to a monastery called Simonas Petras that day, but we heard that it was full, or rather that if we wanted to stay there we should pray and kind of cross our fingers. This being discouraging, we decided to head for a surer bet - the central village of Kayres. We found a mini bus headed that way, elbowed our way onto it, and secured seats when my friend explained that we had come all the way from New York to get there. This was more or less true.

Upon arriving in Kayres, we found that the nearby St. Andrew's Skete had beds available, so we walked down that way and found a place to stay. A skete, in case you didn't know (as if I did), isn't quite a full monastery. Rather, it's a collection of monks who decided to put together something of a community. A monastery is composed of a brotherhood of monks, governed by a council of elders and an abbot, and each monk's duties and the schedule of the monastery are assigned by this council. A skete has no central guidance - monks live together in groups of two or three and take care of themselves. They tend to be less organized and, as a result, a little less accommodating to visitors. St. Andrew's skete exists in the ruins of what used to be an impressive building before it was damaged by fire, and the group of monks living there (about 20, I think) are a pretty strict bunch.

Church and the divine liturgy were executed (it didn't just start, these guys were like clockwork) at 3:45 in the morning. I was all gung-ho at this point, so I woke up on time and sat through the entire thing. Believe it or not, I developed a sort of stamina as a child for four-hour-long church services in languages I don't know, but I was allowed to read a book then. From what I could tell, the service was composed of extensive scripture reading and chanting, which is scripture reading put to a little more rhythm and tone, though not quite a song. You may have heard Gregorian chants in Latin. Done well, it can sound very nice, and the same was true here. The divine relics were brought out after the service, the most interesting of which was the forehead of St. Andrew. It was in a box, and inside was a sort of silver mask of the entire face of St. Andrew with a cutout in the forehead for the actual bone to show through. It was all dark and shadowy in the church, which heightened the aura a little bit. It was pretty striking. We had a little bit of breakfast following the service - about 8:00 AM. Pretty simple - some bread, feta cheese (cheese is allowed on non fasting days...fasting days are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday), an apple, and a kind of gruel kind of thing. Gruel sounds grueling, like you live in an orphanage or something, but this wasn't bad at all.

I had helped was dishes the night before - like I said, I like to feel like I'm earning my keep - and I helped with dishes again that morning. Two Greek guys (I think they were brothers) I had met doing dishes the night before were helping again that morning. We tried to talk a little bit, because they knew a handful of German words. I sat outside to journal for a bit. I was trying to figure out what I was going to do with myself all day when the two of them came outside and asked me if I wanted to go for a walk into the village with them. I figured sure, why not, so we walked into Kayres. We continued from there into a monastery called Koutloumousiou, which is almost right there in the town. The place had beautiful frescoes - the monastery is known for its artists - and the chapel was breathtaking. Instead of wallpaper or something, every inch of the wall was covered in portraits of saints, or depictions of Bible stories or stories about the saints, etc. A huge gold candle chandelier hung from the ceiling, and the walls held icons, some done in silver. There were ropes, and robes, some orthodox-style wooden pews - it was really a symbolism overload. It was filled to bursting with colors and the shine of gold. And guess what? No pictures allowed! Sorry about that. I forgot my camera anyway.

From there it seemed like the guys wanted to go to Iviron monastery, which was all the way down the side of the mountain, and it ended up being about a two hour walk there. It's amazing, really, what can be communicated through "bam'e", Greek for "let's go", and words like "kaput". We made it to Iviron, where we were greeted with the same hospitality experienced whenever visitors arrive at a monastery. A tray is brought out, which holds, for each person, a piece of Turkish delight, a glass of water, and a shot glass of raki - homemade aniseed moonshine. Strong stuff - you can light it on fire if you want. I found this out when I borrowed a lighter to see what would happen.

Alright, I've covered about 24 hours worth of my nine days on Mt. Athos, and I'm going to get going. The sun is actually shining outside (I haven't seen it for three days), so it's a good day to do something. I'm thinking about leaving for Belgrade today, so please continue to pray for safe travels. When traveling alone, you always have to be on your guard against something, or someone, and it can be tiring. Please let me know how I can pray for you.

Still alive!

I haven't written anything since Ephesus, which is strange. I have plenty of things to relate, but limited time (the recurring theme of my blog) and am using a slow keyboard. The space bar requires excessive force, and I considered, but decided against, writingtheentirepostlikethis. That would be unkind and unbecoming of someone as fond of grammar as I.

I'll start where I left off, and continue until I have to leave or tire of the keyboard. Let's see...

Leaving Turkey was strangely cathartic. I left on the morning of the 7th, I think, for Samos via ferry. It felt great - new places, a new country, good weather, etc. Samos was an interesting place, but I only stayed for a couple of hours to make a connection to a ferry leaving for Patmos. I boarded the Kalymnos - a big, rusty, slow moving beast of a ship - for the four hour trip to Patmos. Most of my time was spent reading a book I had (I only suggest picking up Lorna Doone if you like drawn out, slow moving, excessively wordy British literature as much as I do; it put Wuthering Heights to shame in that regard, and I consequently enjoyed it very much) and trying to avoid making eye contact with the gentleman across the table from me. He had sat down, you see, where I had placed my pack. I, of course, sat next to my stuff, leaving us in the awkward position of both being at the same table (there were other empty tables everywhere), not speaking the same language, but not wanting to offend each other by picking up our stuff and moving away. This left him slightly uncomfortable and me slighly amused. He broke first, but only after a three hour war of wills.

Patmos was an incredible place. I'll get some pictures up sometime (this computer is uncooperative despite my coaxings) but you can Google image search the place. It's a fairly small island crowned by a fortress of a monastery. I spent the night in a rented tent at a campground, which is probably my favorite place that I've stayed so far. Give me a sleeping bag, put me outside in the cold, and I'm a happy person. I had one full day on Patmos between trips back and forth to Samos, and I spent it covering the majority of the island on foot. I walked to the Cave of the Apocalypse, where the apostle John received the revelation that (surprise!) became the biblical book of Revelation. Thus began a string of experiences that were very difficult to wrap my mind around. To think that such a significant event had happened right where I was standing was amazing. I felt drawn to stay in the cave, but really wasn't sure what to do with it. I spent some time praying and thinking, and picked up and moved on after maybe half an hour.

I walked to the monastery at the top of the island after the visiting cave. It was in excellent condition, with a number of fairly new mosaics. The museum there was interesting - they had a number of biblical texts on display from anywhere between the 6th and 15th centuries. One manuscript was a handwritten copy of the book of Job, complete with color illustrations. The relics they had were also impressive. I walked into the church, and there, in a glass case, surrounded by a band of silver, was the skull of St. Thomas. How incredibly...real. What else can I say about it?

I was in a hurry to get to Athens so that I could spend a day seeing the city and still make it to Mt. Athos in time. The only way to get off of Patmos the next day was by hydrofoil; having ridden one, I now consider it my duty to inform you of the nature of this vile machine. Hyrdofoils, my friends, are in no way harmonious with the natural order of the world. Boats are fine in their own gently rocking, slow moving sort of way. Airplanes, too, offer a smooth and fast means of transportation that birds engage in constantly. Nature, then, is certainly meant to sail and to soar, but no man or beast was ever meant to half fly and half float across expanses of water, skittering along the top like a dry leaf blowing and tumbling across the sidewalk. If you have ever made it to Disneyland and enjoyed the Indiana Jones ride, perhaps I can impart the experience to you. The Indiana Jones ride is fun because you grip the side of the car in fear as it roars up and down and slips from side to side, wondering if it's going to tumble over or end your life in a fiery explosion. The ride is fun, moreover, because after a mere three minutes you DISEMBARK. Wasn't that scary! Ha ha! Let's go again, but maybe we'll wait for an hour! To feel the same gut-wrenching feeling as you pound, pound, pound over the waves for a full 90 minutes, with no land in sight, is not at all enjoyable. You know that when the fragile craft finally does capitulate to the waves, there is absolutely no hope of swimming to safety. For this priviledge, you are permitted to pay twice the price of the liesurely, gentle boat. Never again.

Well. I showed up in Samos and stumbled to the bus to make my connection to Athens. An all-night ferry left at 10:30PM and arrived in Athens the next day at 7:00, which actually worked out pretty well. The next day (though it hardly felt like the next...all night trains/buses/ferries mess with your head) I visited Athens. It's a very modern city, with a very nice metro system. I got a 24 hour pass for about three euros and made the most of it, because I love metros, and because once you pay for a 24 hour pass it's like riding the metro is free. I walked through the ancient Agora, and visited Mars Hill, where Paul introduced Christianity. It was a very interesting place, despite the fact that all ruins start to look the same after a while. Despite what Lonely Planet might have you believe, ruins don't mystically sweep you away to another time and place. It's still 2008, and you're still looking at a rock. Forgive my cynicism. :) That said, many of these rocks are very cool. I picked up a SIM card for my phone in Athens - you may have seen my number on Facebook.

Left the next day via train for Thessaloniki, and got to see a large portion of the Greek countryside along the way. It looks a lot like the foothills of California, actually. Arrived in Thessaloniki and was rather unimpressed. I found myself on autopilot as I walked through most of the town with my pack, sort of looking around and not feeling like finding a hotel room. I found directions to the bus station that would connect me with Ouranopoulis, so I got a public bus to take me to the station, not knowing if there were any buses to Ouranopoulis that evening and knowing that if I didn't find one it was pretty late to go back into town and find a hotel. It turned out that there was a bus to Our. in about 30 minutes, so it worked out perfectly.

Thus I arrived at the staging area for my visit to Mt. Athos. It was an incredible place (I'm writing from Thessaloniki, having returned from Athos yesterday), but I unfortunately am out of time to talk about it now. I have a train to catch to Skopje, Macedonia, this afternoon, and I need to get going. I'll find a chance to write about Athos in a couple of days, I hope.

I'm currently reading a copy of Charlotte Brontë's "Shirley" that I found on Patmos, and have once again fallen in love with Charlotte as much as anyone can fall in love with a deceased 19th century author. I'm a weird guy. I hope everything is going well in your time zone. I understand that school is starting for some.

Ha.

Ephesus

Yesterday was a rather spectacular day in Ephesus. I'll relate as best I can...

I started out as part of a tour group going through the ruins of Ephesus. A lot of the old city is very well restored - fountains, theatres, columns, temples, and the like. The main road is also restored, so you can walk through most of the city and a get a pretty decent feel of what it was like. It was amazing to walk down streets that St. Paul and St. John walked down, and to stand in a theatre where he presumably preached.

After the city, I walked a little way to the church of the Virgin Mary. Again, it was amazing to be in a place where early believers came together and worshipped, were baptized, etc. I walked around that ruin for a while and took a lot of pictures.

Next, I went up to the place where the Virgin Mary lived and died, up on a hill overlooking Ephesus. There's a shrine there with an actual nun (the first I've seen so far), and a spring of holy water coming out near it. I lit a candle (first time I've ever done such a thing) and crossed myself a lot to fit in. It was a pretty incredible place.

Around about 6:30PM, after making some travel arrangements for a morning ferry to the island of Samos, I walked up to the church of St. John. The sun was going down and the light was perfect. There were hardly any other people up there, so I got to walk around the ruin, which must've been absolutely incredible when it was up, and to see the tomb of St John. It's a very strange thing to find myself so close to figures who, thus far in my life, have felt extremely abstract and faraway in the Bible. Making real-world connections to a book that often feels (admit it) like fiction has a way of changing the way I read it, and suddenly it all seems much more tangible than it ever has before.

I was able to make arrangements with a place called Mt. Athos in Greece. On the 13th, I'll be one of 10 non-orthodox visitors allowed on the mountain to spend four days (or more) living with monks in a community completely cut off from the rest of the world. No women are allowed on the island, and the 20 monasteries on the peninsula still operate according to the 13th century Byzantine calendar and time system. I've been told that it's the equivalent of stepping into 13th century monastic life, and it should be an amazing experience. You might Google "Friends of Mt. Athos" for an informative site on the area - I won't try to describe it all here. The fact that I was able to get a Mt. Athos permit on such short notice, and on a date that works so well with my schedule, was perhaps a lucky coincidence (with a nod to you cynics), and maybe something more. :) Again, I appreciate all of you who are taking the time to pray. If you'd like something specific, please pray that I make it to Mt. Athos in time for my reservation. It's not something I would like to miss, and train / ferry schedules are sometimes unpredictable.

I'm finding myself rather hard pressed to keep up with my online life, and the next week certainly won't be any better. I'm leaving in the morning for the Greek island of Samos, and then from there to Patmos, where St. John was exiled from Ephesus for a time and where he wrote the book of Revelation. I'll try to make my way back to Athens by ferry, then straight from there to Thessaloniki. From Thessaloniki I'll leave for a little place called Ouranoupolis and catch a ferry to Mt. Athos. As a result of all of my hopping around and the consequent stay at a Byzantine monastery, I may not update for a week or two. Try not to panic; find someone who can help support you through my e-absence. It helps my self esteem to imagine that you might have difficulty living without my updates. :)

I'm in Fethiye

Checking in from Fethiye. I don't have much to report - the last few days have just been nice for clearing my head and doing a lot of reading.

I'm leaving for Selcuk tomorrow, where I'll be for my last three/four nights in Turkey.