The Akti Peninsula and Mt. Athos

We left the north coast of Greece and began our sail south to Athens. From there, we pass from the Aegean Sea to the Ionian Sea, bordered by Greece and Italy among other countries. Tonight, we arrive the tranquil bay of Plati on the Atki Peninsula. There is no place like it in the world. For the Greek Orthodox it is a true holy land. For the crew of Jungle it is a spectacular sunset.

We have only one neighbor on this lovely evening.

The next morning we set out on a once in a lifetime tour across beautiful coastlines.

The Atki Peninsula has an incredible collection of monasteries. As a matter of fact it has only monasteries and the priests and men of the cloth that reside here. The are no women allowed, ever. It dates back to the 9th century. This Monastary is an example. It's called Esphigmenou (I have no idea), built around 1034.

The rock formations, all volcanic in origin, are something to see close up. The fact is there is no telephone service, no electricity, no cars, no roads ... It is truly a step back in time.

We'll shed a little light on this one. The best way, and one of the only ways to see the monasteries is by sea. As luck would have it - we have a boat.

Mt Athos is now coming into view. We will sail southeast around the tip and Athos rises over a mile from the sea at that point. Impressive. We are supposed to stay 1 mile from land, if any women are on board. Jenée put a hat on. Good disguise.

This is Vatopedi from the 10th century. Until recently, they did not allow smooth skinned people or any female animals. The rules have relaxed somewhat on that, but still no women!

I realize, as spectacular as this scenery was to us, it gets lost in many of these blog photos. So I'm going to spare you the pain of flipping through poorly detailed photos. I cut it down from 14 monasteries to 4 or 5. Trust me, they are all quite large, ominous, a little creepy and old. The surrounding scenery is spectacular.

We are closing in on Mt. Athos and the Monastary of Pantokrator. A photo opportunity I missed was two fully robed, bearded younger monks out on a quality inflatable boat (25'), checking out fishing spots on the south side of the island. I saw them cast a few lines. Amen. See, everyone likes to get in a little fishing.

A closer view. We are seeing Mt. Athos, the holy mountain behind Pantokrator. This is what is called an Idiorrythmic community within the Monastary. This means the monks are on their own resources for food and clothing and basically live alone. Other monasteries may be Coenobite which are communal, every one shares and dresses alike. I like the communal approach, better parties.

Mules are used as transportation and trucks. We saw some in action from a distance moving along dirt tracks.

This is Greek territory, but the peninsula acts with total autonomy.

Just to make things a little more challenging, they use the Julian calendar (13 days behind our Roman calendar) and a Byzantine clock which has hours of variable length. That's the way it was done 1000+ years ago. So, it's a different world.

There are 20 monasteries in all and they include not only Greeks, but Bulgarians, Russians, Serbs, and Romanians. A multinational effort. Once accepted in, your considered a Greek subject. This is not a Monastary, but rather a small castle.

Here it is in the rear view mirror. There is also a collection of religious hermits and other smaller religious orders on the peninsula.

There are some villages located on these steep hillsides as well. All to support religious devotion.

Incredible panorama.

Plenty to see.

What is difficult to see are these incredible stone and wood structures (hermit homes) built into the steep sides of Mt Athos. How they got there and constructed these things is unbelievable to grasp. A great deal of patience I suspect. Something a hermit should be good at.

That is a village on the side of Mt. Athos.

Hopefully you an make out the homes on the face of the mountain.

How they did it is impressive to consider.

Another Monastary stands alone.

Full view of Mt. Athos.

This is the last Monastary we'll see today. They are original 1000 year old stone structures with wooden structures (residences) built on top. We read that fire has wiped out 19 of the 20 monastaries over the centuries. We noticed a lot of scaffolding on our tour. Monasteries need sprucing up after 1000 years.

We sailed 25 miles from Atki to Sithonia Peninula and Sykias harbor. We enjoy dinner as the sun sets.

Jungle rests quietly.

Another wonderful day comes to an end.

 

Nea Iraklitsa and the Greek Mainland - Opah!

Our last night in Thassos and we're going out in style. My princess is at least, wow! I must make Jenée so happy, she's downright giddy! We are at our favorite beach place (Island Bar) for a sunset cocktail, then we are off to dinner. This is the most laid back island we've visited so far. This particular place has the coolest American music as the owner was a DJ for many years with real eclectic tastes. We dug it.

We also dug meeting Telemaco Papadopoulus, who took care of us night and day when we came to the Island Bar. Not that we were drinking or anything. Boy, why does his name sound so Irish. It's like my good buddy, Demetris Theoharous, another Irish kid. Love 'em! Telemaco is only 21 and is studying to be a journalist at the university. Well Telemaco, writers write, so write us and let us know what you're up to my friend.

Speaking of writing, my darling is texting friends and family back home. A study in concentration and beauty.

We walked next door to Mythos, our favorite Thassos seafood restaurant where they had a table on the water reserved for us. Mythos is also my favorite Greek beer. I'm in heaven. We are overlooking the ancient Limenas town harbor that is reportedly lined with marble on the bottom

The next morning we head to the northern part of the Aegean Sea and mainland Greece. We will pick up our repaired bow thruster from Anthymos in the port town of Nea Iraklitsa (nee-ah ee-rack-leet-sa). Go ahead and say that 5 times fast. While enroute, this sailboat loaded with folks we just met in Thassos comes racing by. Looks like a pretty good disguise - FOR A PIRATE SHIP !

There is Jungle from the vantage of the attacking pirate ship! I'm taking a picture of the varmints before I take evasive action. Well damn your hide, sir ! (That's bad ass pirate talk). You always need to be prepared on the high seas. Or if your just motoring to a cozy little harbor.

So I gun Jungle's engine and jump up to 9 kts. Race over, hah! I think it's important to teach young pirate children the bitter taste of defeat. BWAAA-hah-hahhhhh! Gee Jim, why is it you never had children? I don't rightly know, cause I love the little bastards. Any hoo, they seemed to enjoy it, especially the big wake.

Why not race with sails up you ask? Too much work and what do I look like? A sailor person, guy? What's up with that?

We slow Jungle down now as victory is ours to allow our friends to catch up and capture this lovely montage with Thassos as a backdrop. (not so bad ass pirate talk)

There's Frodo waving to us. Say hi to Bilbo and Samwise (Lord of the Rings, I kill me once again) Frodo is a cool guy from Holland living in Greece with family and all. We had plenty of time to chat as we were both up at 3 AM helping other boats in a swell filled Limenas Harbor. My thanks to him for sending me the Jungle pics. Efharisto, my friend.

We arrive Nea Iraklista. Nice looking bay.

The scenery is quite nice. What a surprise.

We tie up at the dock and stroll around town. Afterwards we stop at this little seafood restaurant recommended by Anthymos. Pretty view of the harbor. Jungle is out there somewhere.

And pretty view of the town waterfront. This area is definitely off the beaten path and we did not meet any English speaking tourists. Strictly Greek and that is fine by us.

Anthymos is an expert boat repair guy (fixes anything with wires) and a sailor who keeps his boat in the harbor. He set up for us to use his buddy's slip for a few days.

There is Jungle. Looking a little large in the harbor. Everyone was nice as could be to us. No surprise there, the Greeks are the best.

Now we get even more ambitious and walk around the back of the marina and find these rocks leading to a park and another beach. We also see folks fishing in the early evening.

I'll be your tour guide this evening as we move through the park and find one of these mini-church-shrines. You see these everywhere you go in the most remote places. All are well kept.

Now we get to the beach. Some folks still here. It's not uncommon for folks in these parts to hang around the beach until dark.

We spot this little sandy cove between the rocks and decide we'll come back to check it out as it's only steps from our boat.

The next day pours, so we are not going to the beach. It's a workday on Jungle. By late afternoon, the sun is shining again so we'll head to the beach tomorrow. One major item accomplished today was to top off our diesel fuel. We took on 1300 liters or 340 + gallons. Unfortunately fuel is very expensive in Greece. So no lunch for a month.

And here we are. This little cove is only 10 meters wide and we have it to ourselves. Yassas!

Checkout that view looking east. We came in front of that big island, Xeronisi, 2 days ago.

Now check it out over Jenée's toes. She's a silly billy.

Looking down the beach, we see a good spot for lunch.

Jenée is saying "no, no, no"' but I'm saying "yes, yes, yes"! It's photo shoot time baby!

I tell her the rock formations are incredible and must be captured in our blog. What would our 3 readers across the country say? Probably nothing, but still. Oh, all right, you really like rocks.

This place really is spectacular.

Every place we visit in Greece, the water is clean and beautiful.

"Enough!" Jenée cries". "Why don't you get in the picture!?"

Okie dokie, don't have to ask me twice, I'm in. Matter of fact, how about just me?

Oh yeah, that's working it! That's pretty hot! Maybe it's just me.

Jenée is worried that anybody checking out the blog right now is bleeding from their eyes. Really? That bad?

No really, you looked good Captain. Yikes!

Sticks and stones ... See if I care? Still a beautiful view from the Taverna.

Anthymos finished up with the repair for the bow thruster so we are good to go. He also checked our main engine alternator and diagnosed it as OK, but with a low idle issue (not charging). We figured out a remedy on that as well, namely rev the engine up a bit until it begins charging then back it down. Great guy who does great work. Very professional and fair.

This is my marina neighbor, Theodore's boat. We could'nt back all the way to the dock due to some rocks, so we needed to use his boat to get on and off.

And here is Theodore at 81 and getting around just fine. Tonight he arrived on his motor scooter. He gave me a tour of his all wooden boat - clean and beautiful. I gave him a tour on Jungle. Nice gentleman.

As we grill dinner on the back deck (our favorite past time) and look around this town, we find it very charming. Looking across the harbor to the town front.

Looking west to the mountains and the sunset.

Looking back up to the residential homes stacked high.

Jenée and I agree, we really love this place and were fortunate to have found it. We are very happy with our decision to sail all the way north. Thanks again to Anthymos for also providing us some touring guidance.

Tomorrow we'll begin our long ride down hill (south) towards Athens. There is some beautiful scenery to see on the western portion of the Aegean Sea. Kali Nikta to all (Good Night).