The early boat, the Agia Anna, took us to Dafni on the 8th of April 2019. The clouds hung low over the peninsula. The Holy Mountain was covered by grey cumuli. In Dafni we found a small taxi bus that would take us to the capital Karyes; our starting point. The road zigzags up into the woods. Every time we visit Athos the dirt roads seems to have broadened. The clouds came nearer and nearer. At about 200 meters altitude we disappeared under the blanket of fog.

I would like to start the photographic journey by showing some pictures of misty Karyes. The mist that makes the world smaller, the sounds softer and makes the colours disappear. Like the greyness we experienced earlier in the winter of 2014-2015. See the blog the day the colour disappeared.

The main street of Karyes with black and gray men.

We found the well-restored Protaton, the oldest church on Athos, closed. It looks quite different from our 2017 pilgrimage.

The Protaton with its bell tower and in the background the stairs leading to the Holy Epistatia, where the government resides.

A monk under the crimson Camellia.

Opposite the bakery, with its irresistible spanakopita, puff pastry filled with spinach, we saw a deserted alley with cobblestones between the ruin of a house and a high wall. The drystone wall was covered with a rich variety of plants, like a hanging garden. Behind the wall some bright white flowering fruit trees.

On the way to Koutloumousiou we saw some very mysterious trees in the fog.

Bas Kamps