Mount Athos

The other counselors and I took nearly 40 of our students to Mount Athos for a day field-trip. Mount Athos is a finger of the Peninsula in Halikidiki about 150km southeast of Thessaloniki.


Here is a picture of one of the counselor's sons whom I tutor once a week who also went on the trip with us. He's great. Meet Christopolous.






It hosts the grounds of some of the world’s most sacred monasteries. The region, a semi-autonomous state, only permitted bearded men to live there, and males—regardless of the beard—to visit. They are so anti-female, that not even female domesticated animals are allowed within 100m of the shores (expect hens, which provide them with eggs). There are legends that this was a tribute to the Virgin Mary who herself visited the mountain, but many struggle to see how banning women pays respect to them. Therefore, most believe that women were originally banned so not to distract the monks from their spiritual quests and tradition has simply carried through to the present. Mary herself is claimed to have visited the mountain in her pursuit of spreading the news of the death of her son. Mount Athos, once pagan territory, realized their error and converted to Christianity after Mary left, and has remained this way since.

Mount Athos is currently home to 20 monasteries, though this number has changed over time due to devastating fires and construction of new hamlets. It was once home to over 40 monasteries housing 40,000 monks. I need to do a bit more investigating, as I am unsure of all of the monks are of the Orthodox faith, or belong to the larger Christian community. The peninsula is run on shared wealth and assets of all the monks, and over the years they have collected legendary items, including the hand of Mary Magdalena (skin intact) and the holy girdle.








Not all monks live in monasteries. There are some who have elected to give up material comforts and live in caves and natural huts lining the cliffs of Mount Athos. With a permit, and a proven devotion to Orthodox religion, men are occasionally able to spend a night with one of the solitary monks. Most visitors however, are hosted in one of the various monasteries.


Just for kicks, here is the reason why I was terrified during this boat tour--don't worry our boat kept 500m off shore since there were women aboard.





These little buggers were swooping down everywhere. Head-hunters. Not pleased.