My big fat Greek adventure

September 7, 2007

What a brilliant journey. Before my trek up the gigantic rocks, I made 2 new friends who were on their way to the same place I was - Roxy and Simon. We walked and talked eachother uphill and into an old Greek Orthodox monastery where skirts are required to be worn by all the females. I lit a candle for the health of my family and went into the small church which was ornate with images of saints painted on gold foil. We visited one more monastery after sitting on a tall precipice and eating our bread and fruit. It is so peaceful to be above all the noises in a town and next to the sky and treetops. I can see how the monks would consider this to be a spiritual place.

Roxy is fantastic because she's like a little forest creature that likes to go around exploring. There were many times that she would look down a hillside covered in tallgrass and say "Oooh! let's go down there!" I was little skeptical and would have rather been comfortable and stayed on the road – but every time she had a hunch about a place, it always let us to the most special, undisturbed areas. We stumbled across some cliff dwellings in the face of the rockside – so we climbed up. We timidly went inside the dark dwelling, using the LCD display of my camera to light our way. In the dark we found 2 other small rooms attached to the main one where it was obvious people had been. I do not know if the people were from ancient or modern times, but I do know that we were the only ones there at that moment. We peeked out through all the holes in the Cliffside staring out at our new front yard made of rocks covered in an ever-growing tangle of green and sky exhaling clouds from its deep lungs.
After leaving our new home and saying goodbye to a bat, we managed to find or way down the hill over ancient rocks and through a mysterious forest guarded by twisting, blackened trees – we even made a friend with a tortoise-although his name we did not catch. The town was filled with people trying to get their last taste of consumerism before it turned into Sunday. We sat, sipping coffee and tea – which is more expensive in Greece because you’re not only buying a drink – you’re renting table space. Te sun whispered to the ears of the pure clouds, leaving a vivid blush on their cheeks.
The Taverna back at home smelled of lamb nestled over the coals in the fireplace and the people were tired after their days – enjoying beer and Tsatziki. We all said our goodbyes and tomorrow morning I leave again to Athens – which is my first step to Israel.