This week my wife and I spend the holidays in Ouranoupolis at the beautiful Skites resort near the border. Today we took the tourist boat to give my wife a chance to get a glimps of the Holy peninsula after all the stories she heard. From this boat, full with women and a few men, I photographed the boat for pilgrims Agia Anna, that was so full with passengers, that not all pilgrims were allowed in. They had to take a watertaxi or wait for the afternoon boat. We sailed a bit further from the coast than I knew from the pilgrim boat, but the view was fine. Simonaspetras high up the hill. A young Russian woman covered her head and took the opportunity to pray and read spiritual texts while sailing along the Russian monastery of Panteleimonos. Praying while facing the Holy Mountain while other women were chatting and eating the food they had in their bags and feeding it to the hungry seagulls. My wife and I in front of Nea Skiti. When I am back in the Netherlands I will show photo’s from the unexpected visit of two monks from Dionysiou who came on board with icons the women could venerate.

Herman Voogd