Mount Athos

by Chantal & David · Published September 8, 2021 · Updated September 8, 2021

On the 26th August, after a peaceful night at anchor back in Porto Koufo we sailed around the southern tip of Sithonia, around to the other side, stopping in a cove off a place called Sykia, being the best stop to cross over to the third peninsula, Akti, or Mount Athos.

The peaceful afternoon however wasn’t set to last as we watched the clouds roll in… we were safe so nothing to worry about, but it was a very dramatic hour with an amazing lightning show, impossible to catch on film on a moving boat however!

It certainly cleared the air, we had a surprisingly calm and restful night, ready for our sightseeing tour of Mount Athos the next day!

The Monasteries of Mount Athos

Mount Athos is the home to one of the largest monastic communities in all of Europe, and is in fact an autonomous state. There are over 20 monasteries with over 2000 monks living in them and the surrounding communities.

Unfortunately us female travellers are not permitted to enter the monasteries, as it is said that the Virgin Mary once walked along these shores and claimed beautiful Athos for herself, fine excuse I say! The closest I, and therefore David, as he couldn’t quite oust me from the boat, was by sailing along the coast keeping a set distance of 500m from the shore, so as to ”not taint the holy ground” with my feminine wiles.

As tempting as it was to stuff a sock down my pants, put on a gruff voice and try to infiltrate this place, I wasn’t quite prepared to chop my hair off, besides I think it is an arrestable offence! Still I was respectfully dressed on the boat as we passed by, not flouting myself in a skimpy bikini, but i know my definition of 500m is probably not what it should be, as David who was helming whilst I was behind my lens, kept telling me as I nagged him to get a incy wincy bit closer to the shore!, my zoom after all isn’t that powerful!

Now David’s version …. Chantal’s sense of distance left something to be desired, as we probably got to within 150 meters at times, whilst I kept an eye open for the patrolling speedboat that was ensuring no one encroached close to land, or god forbid, excuse the pun, that we tried to go ashore !

We were lucky however, as the seas around Mount Athos are renowned for being somewhat ferocious, but on this day, they were calm as anything, with no wind whatsoever!

We will let the photos do the talking, but we are sorry to say we can’t tell you which monastery is which… according to our book there are meant to be 10 on this west coast, but we certainly came across more.. so a little confused.com on that front.

Perhaps not the sharpest shots in the world, but you try taking photos with a DSLR & telephoto lens on a moving boat. hahaha!

Pretty spectacular and that is just the west coast, there are more on the east!

We then headed for the tiny island of Ammouliani, passing the interesting old town of Ouranopolis, that is said to be the best anchorage in the area, Nisis Dhrenia, with its turquoise waters. Stunning, if a little busy and commercialised, but then what did we expect, it is still August and the Greek summer holibobs!

Nisis Dhrenia

The following day we really wanted to pop over to explore Ouranopolis with its Tower of Andronikos, the “alert protector” of the city for centuries, built in 1344, but the waters around it are way too shallow for us, so as there was no wind we decided to brave the dingy the 1 1/2 miles across, having of course pumped it up and popped the pump in the dinghy just in case… in the flat seas we had a giggle, getting it onto the plane ( not the aviation type before you think we have gone nuts), eating up the distance in no time

Ouranapolis

Can you spot Seaclusion in the distance!

We then zipped back across the water and decided to go in search for a more peaceful stop back on the east coast of Sinthonia, passing by the uninspiring “capital” of Ammouliani.

And here’s a taster of our next Stop, Nisis Dhiaporos…

29th August 2021