Every pilgrim who has been in Karyes probably has seen this tower, in the hills high above the small town, at 645 meters high.
In 2018 father Theodosius from Simonospetras took us for a trip over the Holy Mountain and one of our first stops was at the spot where this tower stands. It is on a dead end street, high upon the hill, so nobody ever takes the trouble to hike (or drive) to this place. But we did, and this what we found:
Father Theodosius told that this stone tower was built for one purpose: to hide away the communication antennas that were installed by a telephone provider. It is actually a stone tower and its architecture resembles Athos towers, that are spread over many places on the peninsula. Most of the time the tower in a monastery is used as a library. But this ‘fake’ tower contains only electrical appliances: behind the white screen telephone antennas are placed! The power for the antennas is provided by solar cells.
Wim Voogd, 12-3
Where is that Restaurant of Father Maximos, I have never seen that in Karyes
The small restaurant is just opposite the bus station, I added a red arrow to the Karyes picture. Easy to find!
Thank you very much! I ´ll go there in September.
Wederom een mooi artikel, m’n dag is altijd goed als ik op de Athosweblog een interessant artikel zie. Dat eethuisje van Father Maximos is me nooit opgevallen, sinds wanneer is dat daar. Ik ken alleen het eethuisje in de “Hoofdstraat” en natuurlijk de bakker richting Koutloumousiou met de heerlijke Cheese pie.
Met hartelijke groet, Ruud Verkerk, Gouda
I think father Maximos owns the shop next door with the handicrafts but he is probably the responsible monk for the whole kelion. The cafe/restaurant itself is owned (rented?) by two young civilians from Ierissos, Dimitris and Vassilis..
All of the building which forms a triangle with an interior court, has shops at the basement and features also an upper floor, belongs to Simonopetra and is the kelion of Agios Georgios Kalathas..
About that tower, when it was first constructed, it used to host the equipment of the Panafon telephone company (now Vodafone), which was the first mobile telephone company to provide cover at the holy mountain. There were reactions of course at first, but given the time mobile telephone access was generally accepted and appreciated throughout Athos.
It was a common inside joke at that time from pilgrims and some monks, considering how useful was this ‘miracle’ of mobile communication in Athos brought by Panafon, that if someone asked what this tower was, they replied: It is the chapel of Panagia Panafonitissa! 🙂