5-10-2022: the aqueduct to the Athonias Academy by Monk T5-10-2022 The ruins of the Athonias Academy from the air by Monk T 5-10-2022 The ruins of the Athonias Academy from the air by Monk T 5-10-2022 The ruins of the Athonias Academy from the air by Monk T 5-10-2022 The ruins of the Athonias Academy from the air by Monk T The ruins of the Athonias Academy from the air by Monk T 5-10-2022 The ruins of the Athonias Academy from the air by Monk T: the leftover of wall on left has some kind of antenna?5-10-2022: the fish farms of Vatopedi seen from the air by Monk T 5-10-2022: Vatopedi monastery seen from the air by Monk T
Wim Voogd, (again) thanks to Monk T, ever so helpfull for beautiful content!
The Athonias was founded in 1749 and the first building was erected on the top of a hill northeast of Vadopedi, where its imposing ruins still exist today. In the beginning it was well known because of the progressive educational methods of Eugenios Voulgaris, the director of the Athonias from 1753–1759. However, conservative circles of Mount Athos were encouraged to come out openly against the progressive educational methods of Voulgaris. By the end of the 18th century the rate of literacy in Mount Athos had declined and the traditional local circles became hostile towards the progressive teaching in the Athonias. Already 72 later, in 1821, the Athonias was closed, when the Greek War of Independence broke out. It reopened in 1845 in Karyes. Since 1821 the large building slowly fell in ruins….. On the drawing below you can see how it once looked (also have a look here).
Drawing of the the Athonias in 1821The ruins in present daysThe hill with the Athonite academy, seen from above on May 17th 2017
During my last visit to the Holy Mountain together with the Friends of Mount Athos I could visit the ruins and take a short hike from Vatopedi to Athonias (on Sunday afternoon 25th of September 2022).
Part of he hike we made on 25th of September 2022. The surroundings of Vatopedi and Athonias with the vineyard of the Five Martyrs – from the Peter Howorth map The Pende Martyres vineyards – the grapes had just been harvestedFurther down in the sea: six round nets flote on the surface (with fresh fish in it?)
Before going to the the ruins of the Athonias, you’ll see the aqueduct that provided fresh water from the opposite hill:
The beginning of the aqueduct, where the fresh water came inThe aqueductLooking up: the ruins on top of the hillThe South wall: what used to be the entrance doorInside the Athonias: left from the entrance a part of the second floor still standsInside the Athonias: right from the entrance, with Vatopedi below Inside the Athonias: the Western wallInside the Athonias: the premises are largely overgrown (Western wall)The Eastern wall (North side)The Eastern wall (South side)details of brickwork windows in the Eastern wallThe chapel of Agios Eliou: once a year they celebrate a service here. The interior of the chapel: a shot through the closed window My fellow pilgrims: Tjeu, Bart and Lukas from BelguimThe chapel with a pile of stones and the Eastern wall behind it The South and West wall, towards the entrance A wooden beam survives, even after 273 years!Detail of a window arch with baked bricksLooking down at Vatopedi monastery from the Athonias hill
Wim Voogd, 30-12-2022
To all our readers: we wish you a healthy and peacefully new year, maybe we will meet once on the Holy Mountain (in September 2023?)
This footage by IMDLEO.GR shows a sudden storm on December 1st 2022 near the monastery Dionysios on Mount Athos. You see the water storage tank that prevents the plaza from flooding and protects the shoreline from the swirling water and floating forest logs. The river has almost overflowed in places, but the built waterworks have proven their worth. The storm was part of a low-pressure area called Ariel, which brought many downpours and thunderstorms in parts of Greece.
“No pilgrimage to Athos for me this year, or so I thought”, because at the beginning of 2022 it turned out that traveling to Athos was still difficult, because of the protective measures to prevent the Corona virus from spreading over the Holy Mountain. And secondly, all my Dutch fellow pilgrims could not come along this year. But being a member of the Friends of Mount Athos, I accepted an invitation in January to attend a “Teams”-meeting of the footpath team. The FoMA team had planned a visit to Athos in the autumn of 2022. At this meeting I just listened to the plans they were making, because I knew there was a waiting list and I couldn’t go yet, so I quietly hoped that next year, in 2023, it would be my turn.
Shortly afterwards, to my surprise, I received a message that I had already been invited to join the footpath team this year and I embraced this offer with both hands! I could choose to participate for one or two weeks. I chose to go for one week, from Sunday September 25th to Saturday October 1st.
This is how I ended up in Ouranopolis this fall, where I first had to do an EU-approved PCR-COVID test at the local GP with the fancy name VIP Doctor, where Dr Alexander does this test for 60 euros. You will receive the results by email within 24 hours. To enter the Vatopedi Monastery, you must have a negative COVID test not older than 48 hours or you will not be allowed to enter the monastery. A checkpoint has been made for this, not far from Chera on the road near the Ridge path (see map below).
The morning of departure with the ferry to Dafni, before collecting your Diamoniterion at the office of the Pilgrims Bureau, you’ll have to do (another) rapid COVID-test, just around the corner of the Pilgrims Bureau, performed by three docters (the building is at the red arrow). It takes about 20 minutes to queue and get the results.
7.20 h: our team in line to get the rapid COVID test.
A day earlier I had already met my teammates, Bart Janssens from Belgium, our leader, with his two sons Tjeu and Lukas, and Daniel from Italy, who lives in Belfast, here in front of the Pilgrims Office.
My (happy) teammates with their Diamoniterion.
Then we had to buy tickets for the ferry. The ticket office has been moved from the spot next to the Isalos cafe to the edge of the village, also not far from the Pilgrims Office (the building by the blue arrow in the photo above). At 9.45 am the (new) ferry Panaghia Engyitria leaves for Dafni after a final check of all documents.
September 25th 2022: a beautiful day to start a pilgrimage!
When we arrived in Dafni, father Mathew was already waiting for us, along with Justin from Illinois/USA, the sixth member of our team, who have already spent a week in Vatopedi with other FoMA volunteers. We first drove to Koutloumousiou in his four-wheeled car to get some supplies and then went through Karyes to the Vatopedi checkpoint.
The Vatopedi checkpoint on the Howort map version June 2022
The Vatopedi checkpoint
After arriving in Vatopedi we were warmly welcomed in the guesthouse by Father Mathew with loukoumi, biscuits, fresh water and a glass of tsipourou.
The door to our ‘tool shed’, not far from the archondaritki and our sleeping rooms.
Inside the tool shedHanding over of the new Peter Howarth map, specially printed for the footpath clearing teams.
The Peter Howorth map June 2022, get this map here.
The Peter Howorth-map is the best map of Athos. It is updated all the time and also used by local police and the fire brigade on Athos.
The latest video of the Greek pilgrim dates from the first of November 2022. On this nice footage with dramatic music at the end he and his friend Angelos start their climb from arsanas Agia Anna, where he almost slides into the sea (!), and where they a little later spot a waterspout above the sea (4.07 min). This must be the same tornado I saw on September 23th, when I was in Ouranopolis!
First they climbed all the way to Kerasia, where they spend the night. The next day they hiked to the Panaghia refuge and immediately went to the top of Mount Athos. It is here that they spend the night (in the open air at 5 Celsius?) and saw the sun set and rise again, with the impressive piramid shaped shadow of the mountain in the sea. Again a drone was used to make some fine shots and the music completes this fine video.
This is what Rafinos said about the top:
“We climbed the top on the 2nd day. The ascent, although tiring, had no dangerous or steep spots at all. For those who go up, we would tell you to spend the night at the top and not at the church of Panagia at 1500m. The reason is that the shelter is unfortunately very dirty and neglected inside. Unfortunately, many people who visit Agios Oros does not respect the place, as a result of which you see garbage in many parts of the climb. Spending the night at the top is a truly unreal experience. Both in the east and in the west, the shadow of the mountain stretches for many kilometers over the sea. At night, if the weather helps, you think you’re traveling among the stars”.
The hike on September 23th is also published on Wikiloc.
The same waterspout was filmed by monk T near Simonos Petras on September 23th
Rafinos from Greece published this beautifil 8-minute video from his hike on July 5th 2022(?) between Simonos Petras and Grigoriou, in black and white and color, and with appropriate music in the background. Some of the shots were made by drone. Nice work!
On my last journey to Athos in September/October 2022 I spend one day in Thessaloniki. Because we published the photos of the photographer Boissonnas earlier on this weblog (1485), I made a visit to this small museum MOmus on the pier in the centre of town, where an exhibition of his work was on display.
Museum of Photography MOmus
It was a nice exhibition, but for me as a Athos-fan, I also expected some his pictures he made on Athos during his visits in 1928-1930. There were none, alas. But when leaving I saw at the entrance that a book was on sale with all his Athos-pictures. It was already published in 2006, but only in Greek , so it did not come to my attention yet. You can buy the book here.
Fred Boissonnas -Athos pictures 1928-1930
Because I spend one week in Vatopedi together with my friends of the FoMA footpath team I tried to retake some of the pictures Fred Boissonnas took in 1928, so 94 years later. Let’s see how much has changed (or not!).
14/27-8-1928: the gate and entrance to Vatopedi with mules on the right side.
The entrance on Mat 10th 2017: sadly this photo is not taken from the right angle,
At the gate of monastery not many things have changed in the past 89 years, allthough there is a new cross on top of the dome of the chapel. Inside the gate there some new murals and outside on the left many Koi carps are swimming around, but otherwise things are still the same here.
14/27-08-1928: Vatopedi courtyard with the source of the Austrian benefactor Peter Müller, the chapel of the Holy Girdle on the right and the tower of Christ’s Transfiguration on the background29-09-2022: Vatopedi courtyard
What is striking that the amount of trees inside the monastery walls has increased substantially, and unfortunately they block the view. In the South West corner on the right you’ll see the two chapels of the Saints Theodori (upper level) and Minas (lower level). Here also are te guestrooms of the archondariki. This part of monastery is more or less in its original state and is not renovated yet. On the top floor of the tower our contact in the monastery, father Andrew lives.
23-9/6-10-1930: the source, given by of the Austrian benefactor Peter Müller
28-09-2022: the same spot, with a large tree!
A Latin text (why?) on the source: “This source was given to the venerable fathers by Peter Müller and his companion a.d. 1860”, (with some mistakes in the spelling {fuit = est and de = a}. Could it been a rush work, my Latin language expert and travel compagnon Bart Janssens asked himself, who also took this photo).14/27 August 1930: Vatopedi courtyard28-09-2022: except for the trees that now grow in the courtyard, almost nothing changed
14/27 August 1928: the phiale, with the chapel of Ag. Thomas in the background
28-09-2022: the Phiale, seen from a slightly different angle, with probably The three Hierarchs chapel
22-9/5-10-1930: the marble throne next to the door to the Katholikon
28-9-2022: the same spot, nothing changed here
22/9-5-10-1930: the clock tower with the Jackmart and the phiale next to it, and on the right the bell tower. In front of the bell tower is some kind of source, that has disappeared nowadays.
28-09-2022: the same spot, next to the bell tower a building with a round door was added22 September/5 October 1930: Vatopdi, the interior of the trapeza 1980 – the interior of the trapeza with the blue color, that has disappeared a couple of years ago, when the walls were restored with white paint, as it was in 1930. 22 September/7 October 1930: outside the Vatopedi walls: a view of the ruins of the Athonasias academy, with two storeys still in situ, and with the aqeduct on the right.09-05-2017: most of the ruins walls did collapse, only the aqeduct is still fairly intact.
Below I show some pictures of Vatopedi from 1928/30, that I didn’t make a double of on my last trip or that I don’t have a double of in my archive.
On the last picture you see a monk walking around the church with the traditional semantron, to announce that church service will start soon. What surprised me was that this act was not performed during the week I stayed in Vatopedi. Does that mean they have stopped this tradition?
Thanks to Fred Boissonnas, who is looking very seriously on this self-portret. He lived from 18 June 1858 – 17 October 1946, and came from Switserland.
Wim Voogd, 24-10-2022 (to my knowledge there is no copyright any more on showing these pictures, but if it does, please contact me).
On a half hour walk from Ouranopolis you will find the border to the Holy Mountain. Behind the fence there is a cluster of five buildings: one for a policeman (on the right when standing at the gate), a house for the employee of the Holy Mountain and three deserted buildings belonging to the arsanas of Chromitsa. Chromitsa lies higher uphill and it used to be the hospital of the Russian monastery Panteleimonos, nowadays it is vineyard of Tsantali, where the grapes of the house wine of the Kremlin grow (the ‘Putin’-wine that costs €150).
Two of the arsanas buildings The border; “The entry is prohibited at all times. Those wishing to visit the Holy Mountain are allowed only from Ouranopoli by ship. From here crossing is illegal and punishable by law”.The house of the police man on the right Left: the house the employee of the Holy Mountain View from the entrance With a double headed eagle on the gateIn former days the border was guarded by a small monk named Makarios, here in 1989.The large building with two floors, with broken windows and almost in ruins, although the roof is still intact.The smaller building with two closed doorsThe first doorThe second doorWith the year 1883 in iron numbers above itThe passage to the arsanas buildings An old wall and the jetty Looking back at the passage the two-storey building photo 1, covered with hanging plantsthe two-storey building photo 2the two-storey building photo 3, with an old tv antennaA ruin of a small building that was attached to the big one beside itIn 2007 this small building was still intact. The North side of the dock-yard houseBoth buildings The dock-yard houseA window with iron bars (the two-storey building)A door of the two-storey buildingInside the two-storey building: not a save place to beThe border fence at the sea
In part 1 of this post (2248) I showed you the exterior and interior of the Church of All Saints. In this post we wil take a closer look at some of the other buildings, starting with the building that is called the Papayiannis building. This is the traditional Simonopetras Overseer’s House, which after renovation will be used for pilgrim accommodation.
This is how this building looks like seen from the road (situation in October 2019):
In the background on the right: the Papayiannis building. In the foreground the church of All Saints in construction cloths and on the left house nr 4 with a water tap and flowers named “Cognac” (see the plan below). I do not know why this house is named after a French brandy?. Behind the olive tree: the stairs that lead to the entrance of the Papayiannis building Inside the Papayiannis building: choir stalls from the Church that lies next door. The passage to the stairs is closed.The Papayiannis building: a cellwith someting that looks like a bed ->The Papayiannis building: a hallway with different furnitureThe Papayiannis building: work in progress in a room with icons, a printer (?) in plastic, multiple frames, buckets, books and a bookcase and a fire extinguisherA small balcony in a corner between the Papayiannis building (nr2) and the lumber storage (nr 3)Seen from the other side: The Papayiannis building. In the background you can see blue car, which also can be seen in the next photo In a small alley opposite of the Church of All Saints (at nr 4 on the plan below)Credits: simonopetrafoundation.orgBuilding nr 6: the lumber laborer’s buildingThis is the same building, but then drawn in its future shape, taken from the simonopetrafoundation.org website
And on the drawing below an artist impression of the complete Simonospetras building complex, as it should look like when the funds are collected and the renovations completed.
The future situation of the Dafni building complex?
This ends the posts I made during and of my 2019 Athos pilgrimage. Hopefully next week I will get new content to share with you.
Leaving Dafni October 4th 2019: a thunderstorm threathens the port and ferryA goodbye to Athosand Panteleimonos
but with the happy face of Anna in Ouranopolis (for a good breakfast and cold beer at Maria’s Isalos bar/restaurant. The restaurant used to lie next the ferry ticket office, that in present days has been moved further down the boulevard of Ouranopolis).
Tomorrow I will leave for my 14th pilgrimage to Athos, and from next Sunday the 25th of September I will go to Dafni together with the Footpath team of the FoMA, where a 4-wheel drive car will be waiting for us to bring us to Vatopedi. I will keep you informed about developments with new posts !
It has been three years since we last visited the Holy Mountain. Due to the coronavirus, the lockdowns in the world and extra precautions that applied to Athos, no pilgrims were allowed to come. But this summer Athos will finally open again and pilgrims are allowed to visit (most) monasteries again. I’m lucky enough to be joining the FoMA footpath clearing team this month, so I’ll be back on the Athos Peninsula on September 25th. And it was about time, because while I have a large archive of Athos photos, my own Athos pilgrimage content has almost completely dried up. But with some patience I managed to save some photos from the last trip in 2019 and some content for a very last post from the trip of 2019.
Dafni seen from above – drone footage by monk T
On October 4th 2019 we arrived in Dafni on time to leave for Ouranopolis, so I had some time to wander around in the small harbour village. I ended up at the Southern part of Dafni, where I saw some old dilapidated buildings. One of them was a church near a boathouse. Because the door was open I could enter the building and have a look inside.
Old dilapidated buildings in DafniArsanas of the Simonospetras Monastery at Daphne. Russian Photographer, date unknown
This is the church that I visited in 2019, shown on an old photograph and seen from the jetty. I think this must in a time before the WWII, according to the fashion and hat from the man on the picture. The stairs that lead to the balcony on the second floor have since been removed.
But first, let me show you a floor plan of the Dafni building complex of Simonospetras: it comes from the new website simonopetrafoundation.org, where several projects of Simonospetras are presented in an absolutely beautiful website.
The church of All Saints in Dafni: nr 1From the Simonopetras Foundation siteThe Church of All Saints in Dafni: 4/10/2019
The church wrapped in construction cloths and surrounded by scaffolding. I now know that the church is dedicated to All Saints thanks to to the website mentionend above.
The Church of All Saints in Dafni: the stairs to the entranceThe Church of All Saints in Dafni: seen from the jetty and buildings 2 and 3: the Papayiannis building and the lumber storageA close up of these two buildings: the lumber storage seems newly renovated The church of All Saints with its boathouse and the Papayiannis building: they are connected to each other. The boat house and the Papayiannis building
Let’s have a closer look inside the church of All Saints.
On the first floor, a room at the seaside, with al large fireplaceA room on the first floor with niches, neatly wihite plastered and with stained glassThe stairs that lead to the first floor: this part lies above the boat houseIn a corner: beautiful doors with stained glass The door that leads to the church and the first room above the boat house, with a view over the seaA room on the second floor that overlooks the sea, with a small dome painted blue and a ceiling with only beams, From here you can go to the balcony.The niche in the wall, with a (what we now all know) mouth cap, here ment to protect against dust, not Covid-19 (yet!).A first iconostasis to enter the church, with a second, wooden iconostasis behind it, wrapped in plastic.The balcony on the second floor, looking NorthThe balcony on the second floor, looking SouthThe actual church of All Saints, with its large dome in white, and with renovations in full progressOne of its thick outher walls, with a round top and a V-shaped window in it. There is almost no plaster on the walls left. On the right the second wooden iconostasis.
I am curious what the church looks like now, because in 2019 the Simonospetras Monastery started the renovation work and in the meantime three years have passed. In the photo below you can get an impression of what it will eventually look like. I wonder how far they are in renovating the whole complex. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to see it on my upcoming Footpath Clearing Trip, on returning to Ouranopolis.
An artist impression of the Dafni buildings of Simonospetras.
To end this post: this is a photo of mr Herman Hissink from Holland in the 70-ties, with the Church of All Saints and Dafni seen from dirt road that leads to Simonospetras (with Xeropotamou in the background).
Next time more about the others buildings of Simonsopetras in Dafni.
Athos – Agios Oros
Athos - Agios Oros 