In front of the main entrance of Sografou there are several old buildings to be found. On the leveled ground there is a kind of square. On the far right you will find a signpost. It directs us not only to other monasteries on Athos but also to the secular world beyond the Holy Mountain. It points to Bulgarian cities, like Varna (the Black Sea resort) and its capital Sofia. It is kind of rare on Athos to find signposts of the world outside. Probably all the other signposts on Athos give directions only within the peninsula. The signpost gives the impression that you can go anywhere from here and that you are in the middle of things. That is correct in the sense that Sografou lies in between two coasts but a false illusion. There are five directions you can take. In fact that is quite a lot of directions to go on Athos. You can go to Konstamonitou, to Vatopaidiou, to Esfigmemou, To Chilandariou and to the arsanas (harbor). 
There is a very long building along the road to the monastery. It is partly inhabited. Probably by workers. 
A police station is not a common sight on Athos. And there seems hardly any reason for a police station. But there is one here. The Greek flag is waving in front of it. Who needs police in the Heaven on Earth? It is hard to imagine any crime on the such a peaceful place as the Holy Mountain. And police is not the proper instrument to handle any religious dispute. Though with the zealots of Esfigmenou there were some troubles.
But maybe there are cases of theft. Are there any police records and statistics known from Athos?
Lots of cats sitting quietly in the shade. The blue remains on the walls show us that al long time ago the entrance was painted in the traditional Greek way.
One of the buildings a bit further away from Zografou. Interesting are the wooden food-troughs for the mules.
The food-trough in detail.
One of the ruined houses. In the back of the picture you can see the monastery. 
An overview of the hamlet with Zografou at the back. A abandoned (?) church and a small graveyard.
The covered entrance of the church. We didn´t explore it any further. Dinner was waiting for us.
Bas Kamps
Funny that you just mentioned the police station, as yesterday there was a stabbing incident on the ferry to Dafni. Apparently a foreign worker stabbed another foreign worker after an argument. The culprit was led to the police station in Karyes, whereas the victim to the health center for minor injuries.