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.