When arriving at Makedonia airport in september 2015 it was raining very hard. Water flowed through the streets of Thessaloniki.
But we safely reached the busstation by taxi and took the bus to Ouranoupolis, the town in Chalkidiki were the pilgrimage to Mount Athos normally starts.

The rain was still pouring when we saw the tower of Ouranoupolis. Streams of mud colored the sea water brown.
When the wetter cleared a little bit we walked, as we do every year when we are in Ouranoupolis, to the Athos border. This time we climbed the hill in front of the stone borderwall which runs into the sea. The two figures on the peer are policeman who are guarding the border but now probably fishing.

After 4 days on Athos we returned to Ouranoupolis. It was sunny again, as it was during our stay at the Holy Mountain.

The Ouranoupolis tower in full sunlight.

To get an impression of Ouranoupolis I filmed the boulevard along the beach with a small chapel,  many restaurants, bars and the ticketoffice for the ferry to Athos. At the end of the footage we meet our fellow pilgrims.

Herman Voogd