After a coffee in the café of Dafni, I went for a walk. The boys stayed around the harbour enjoying themselves with the kittens. We had to wait for our connecting boat to Ouranopolis. I wanted to explore in the last moments on the Holy Mountain. And a good opportunity to make some pictures now I had a bit of time. I took a look at the dwellings on the other side of the river, the Donta stream, behind the café, where the dirt road to Simonos Petras starts. Here is the old bridge over the Donta.There is an old harbour with a boat house and some long houses for workmen. The boat house has got a chapel as well; the cupola belongs to the same building. The timber on the pier was ready to be transported.There is so much building and restoring going on in Agion Oros these days that it feels like a relief to find a building that is left to the forces of nature. This one reveals its inner layers and even a timbered construction above the alley.This is the same chapel from a distance. I was struck by the powdered quality of the light like an Italian Renaissance painting.
The monk waited for the workman to come. They had a short conversation before they split. The monk instructed the workman.

I looked around for a while for more photo options. Three young men, laymen, came to me. One of them wanted to show me something. He sounded excited. He took me behind a house, in the direction of the waterfall. We crossed big rocks. He said to come closer down the river. A very quiet and secluded place. The sun had not yet visited this area.We had a good view on the waterfall from there. The water made a lot of noise. If he had wrong intentions he could have done something to me there. He pointed at the water. I took a picture. But I didn’t see what he meant. Still closer, he pointed. And then I saw it. We laughed together in relief. I thanked him. He left as a friend. There was a cross in the half frozen river. It was clearly visible. It was a sign. Our pilgrimage was blessed by the Cross.

Bas Kamps