In between the monastery of Pantocratoros and the Skiti of Profitou Eliou is a nice path (red and dotted line on the map) slightly uphill. It will take 30 minutes to get to the former Russian skiti.

In the low hanging clouds uphill lies the skiti of Profitou Eliou. The small building with the amphoras belongs to the Pantocratoros monastery.

It was clearly a wet day but the rain had stopped when we started the hike looking back at Pantocratoros.

Due to the rain the path was blocked by the stream. In normal conditions it was no problem to get to the other side without wet feet but now we had to walk back to look for a suitable crossing.

Finally a kind of “beaverdam” took us over the small river

Somewhat higher up the monopati no longer follows the stream and it is not that far anymore.

At the end the path crosses the road.

We reached the skiti and were warmly welcomed with water, coffee and Tsiporou by the very friendly guestmaster of the Skiti, Father Filemon, who allowed me to take a picture. At the end we walked the dirt road back to Pantocratoros, instead of the path to avoid the crossings over the stream.

Text and photo’s by Herman Voogd