Northern Greece and Mount Athos

This tour is an integral part of a journey that also included Yugoslavia (Serbia-Montenegro-Vojvodina-Kosovo), Macedonia and Bulgaria, made with my Fiat Tipo. Having reached northern Greece from the Macedonian border at Niki, passing through Edessa I reached Thessaloniki. I visited the city with parts of its walls, ancient Byzantine buildings, old and new Orthodox churches, the tower on the port and the seafront. In the evening, departure for the easternmost of the three prongs into which the southern part of the Chalkidiki peninsula divides. A stop at Ouranoupoli, a small seaside resort with a little beach where the road ends and where I slept in a guesthouse.

A little to the south, in fact, begins the Orthodox Monastic Republic of Mount Athos, where there are no drivable roads, where clocks are not used but time is kept by the sun, where there is no electricity and where women may not enter. To reach it, after obtaining permission from the local authorities, I took the ferry that shuttles from Ouranoupoli to Dafni. From here begins the republic's only road, obviously unpaved, which I travelled in an old bus as far as the "capital" Karyes, a sparse group of houses around a monastery. Mount Athos is a green mountain facing the Mediterranean, where numerous monasteries are located, representing the various nations that have embraced the Orthodox religion. After visiting a couple of these monasteries I slept in the Romanian one. After eating in the refectory as a guest of the monks, I slept in a bare room lit by candlelight.

The following morning, a wake-up at dawn and on on foot along the mountain paths together with a small group of Greek faithful. Along the way you meet the anchorites, monks who have chosen a solitary life of penance; some live in isolated houses, others on an unreachable peak; some of them can be approached to pray together. The path led me to a fine monastery that dominates the sea from the top of a promontory. From this enchanting place I took the boat to Dafni and from here the ferry to Ouranoupoli. It is lovely to skirt the peninsula, letting you see numerous monasteries, each bearing the architectural marks of its reference nation. From Ouranoupoli I took the car again and headed north, sleeping in a hotel near Sidirokastro and entering Bulgaria from the Promachonas border.

Absolutely not to be missed: Mount Athos For further information on Greece see TOUR IN GREECE and ATHENS AND AROUND. To enter Mount Athos you must hold a permit requested through the Italian Consulate of Thessaloniki and issued, after about a year, by the Prefecture of that city. Before entering you must go to an office at the Ouranoupoli embarkation point, where the monks issue a visa for a maximum of five days. Tourist entry to Mount Athos is regulated and limited in number. The entry of female persons is absolutely not possible.