Athos, a Myth
Early in the morning we got ready to get our visitation permit and to to take the first ship going to the Holy Mountain. Unfortunately we found out that as a normal visitor we had to wait until 10 o'clock to be shipped in, we had to kill some time in the cafe close to the port. Slowly the place filled up with pilgrims also eagerly awaiting the possibility of seeing this place. By now a anxiousness filled us to the bones, for days we got closer and closer to this myth. Many whispers had gotten to our ears about all the wonders that have been kept there for over a thousand years, about buildings towering on high rocks and holy men towering in their wisdom even higher. We already had emerged into the soaking respect that everyone had towards this place and as we actually put foot onto Athos in Dafne the port town, we realized that the myth was true. A flood of pilgrims stormed onto the land and quickly everyone just went about his own way so that the crowd was quickly gone. And as a big monk declared with a roaring voice that he does not know whether a ship goes on the next day or not we knew that a other time is ticking here.
Athos has its own time and calendar. The day starts with sunset and is 15 days behind in the calendar. When its 25th of December in our world it is only the 10th in theirs. You get to celebrate Christmas twice if you want. Each monastery has its own routine and some even use another time than the rest where the day starts with sunrise. There are many odd things but nothing compares to the actual other worldliness of the monks.
Because we considered ourselves real pilgrims, my dad and me we decided to explore the mountain by foot which is in the spirit of tradition but most pilgrims nowadays move about the peninsula with the buses that get you to the monasteries or staying on the ferry that goes around if the weather is good. Since we decided to walk we quickly got to the first monastery called Xiropotamou. We weren't sure if we should go in and didn't know how to approach such a place. We read that the monks a are quite hospitable and give the pilgrims something to drink and eat even if they stay for only a few minutes. But that first place we got to seemed so empty and quiet at first (a feeling that was repeated in almost every monastery I would go to) that we doubted that someone would find us and take us in. But only a few minutes after standing around in the entrance gate the guest master monk took us in and brought us the traditional turkish delight and a strong zipuro (Ouzo) with a glass of water. After that we hiked to Karyes which is the main town of Athos. Even though it is the administrative center there are hardly over twenty houses there. After having a coffee and another zipuro we hiked further across the peninsula to a monastery called Iviron. We just got there in time before the gates closed, the guest master had pitty on us and gave us some food even though the dinner was already over. Shortly after we went to sleep to be ready for the liturgy in the morning. The monks usually get up at 3 in the morning to pray until daybreak. It is an essential part of the monk lifestyle and the asceticism they practice to pray while the world is asleep. Most pilgrims though, and we included only go to the liturgy shortly before it is finished. To participate for maybe an hour or so. It is a very special atmosphere to enter this churches in the dark morning, lit up by beeswax candles and incense in the air.
After a simple breakfast, bread and some olives with tea. We hiked back to Karyes and then took a bus to Dafne again because my dad had to leave in order to make it to airport in time. In Dafne we reflected on the last 24 hours we were on this magical place and were suddenly filled with awe by its depth. The days with my dad were so special and it was hard for us to say good bye. Under tears we hugged a last time and I went my way towards the famous monastery Simona Petra, as my dads adventure with me was over, my time on Athos just began.
To the Holy Mountain
After a lot of anticipation my dad arrived in Thessaloniki, quickly we found a hotel to spend the night and decided to stay for two so we would have some time to talk. After a nice day exploring the amazingly European city Thessaloniki and realizing that the two million people living there are ahead of us Siwss in many ways we started our journey towards Athos. Immediately we plunged into a colorful adventure. To leave a big city by foot is not that easy, most city planers probably never thought, "Hey how should the pedestrians leave the town?". After all we found the way out, after a few hours of walking we decided to take the bus for a bit, but first we strengthened ourselves with a juicy meat sandwich along the street. Shortly after we've entered the bus an elderly lady collapsed in front of my dad, we could catch her just in time before she would fall horribly. She just lay on the ground for a few minutes totally passed out, in the common panic everyone kept telling us what to do in Greek without being willing to take action themselves. After we finally got to the coast where there were no more industrial buildings we continued hiking. As the night fell we were only a few kilometers away of our targeted town to sleep. To increase our safety we packed out our lamps so cars would see us better and as we were standing on a drive way to a house a car pulled in. The guy was curious what we were doing and we told him that we wanted to walk to Athos. Immediately he responded that we cannot find a place to sleep in the next town and that the way we tried to go was not good, for we planned to hike along the coast instead of taking the main road more inland. Kindly he took us in, his wife quickly prepared something for us to eat an then they found us a hotel for the night drove us there. An interesting coincidence was that his son is a monk on Athos in a monastery that I wanted to visit most and I actually stayed there twice for one night.
So after our little detour we hiked along he main road, sometimes talking, sometimes each pondering his own thoughts. There is much pondering going on in a pilgrim, you know, the feet just walk by itself and the thoughts wonder of to the hidden places where the busy man can never go. The furthest my thoughts wander when my body is still fresh in the morning and the freedom is almost physically touchable. But I must admit that wondering in thought is not always helpful because it can distract from the essentials. The essentials are the inner peace and freedom not outer and the ideas from far can easily disturb the mind by fantasies leading the mind astray.
Anyhow, we walked into the night and decided to hitch hike for a while so we would get to the port town in time to take our ferry. But no one took us strangers so we stood out in the cold for two hours until a bus came that brought us to our destination: Ouranopoli, the port going to the independent province of Athos which cannot be reached by foot or car. We took a little pension for two nights and waited eagerly for our departure to the holy mountain.
I’m Back
Hello my friends, after a half a month on the Holy Mountain Athos I'm back in the "world" as the monks used to say. It was until now the most special time of my pilgrimage, because it is a place so full of wonder that I don't even know where to start. And for now I won't tell you much because it will need hours to write an account worthy of what I've seen and heard there. I just spend some time updating the pictures on Flickr, you'll find them here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lukebuehler/
I'll give you a short update, but I'll promise to write more sooner than later.
After I waited for one week in Thessaloniki my dad arrived to visit me. He stayed for a week. We traveled together to the little town Ouranopoli, which is the port town to go to Mount Athos. This place is a peninsula that is now for over a thousand years set apart for orthodox monks. There are many monasteries, skites, and hermitages. My dad came with me the first day to the mountain but had had to go back the next day. I stayed for half a month visiting many monasteries and staying at some places longer. I spend many hours in prayer and reading literature of the orthodox church, hiking around or talking to monks (when I found an English or German speaking one). On the ferry back to Ouranopoli a guy heard that I'm going to Constantinople and offered me a ride to Alexadroupoli which is brought me over 300 kilometers closer to Istanbul and to the border of Greece. From there I'm writing now and its likely that the next post is from the city that rests on two continents.
Reaching My Second Goal
The first main goal was making it to Venice then the next step was to get to Thessaloniki, the second biggest city in Greece. Now after two more month of traveling since Venice I've made it here. But let me tell you first what happened the last two weeks.
I stayed with those really cool people working as volunteers in this small village in the back country of Greece. The village and its surrounding nature was amazing, very untouched with the mountain peaks covered with snow and the trees still in the autumn colors, I could go for long strolls or some adventurous hikes with someone. The people were even better we had so much fun. We cooked together, went on some exploring trips, had movie nights or long and interesting conversations. One night we went dancing and it was so much fun as we were only about three to four people dancing and let ourselves go. In the end I could look back on a week of resting and enjoying good people what motivated me to move on.
After a week up in the mountains, I hitch hiked back to the city Florina where I took the train for my first time to Edessa. At first I was quite bored in this city, but I didn't know that there were so many interesting places to discover. Edessa is built up on a big platform where the south part suddenly drops off with high rocks. There are rivers running trough the city that then fall over cliffs as beautiful waterfalls. I stayed there in a hotel where I read for a while and fell asleep early. The next morning I continued walking towards Thessaloniki. It was a rainy day but I didn't care as I felt so free and new motivation surging trough my soul to finish this trip. After about 20 kilometers of walking I hich hiked for another 20ks to a City called Ginnaitsa where I stayed again in a hotel. I explored the town and read a lot in the bible. I love to read this book right now, often at home I rarely read it and find time only about once a week. But here on this trip I read it all the time, for the first time in my live I discover the psalms. All the mysteries that are buried in those praises and songs to God its amazing I could definitely recommend to start reading some psalms when you've never read in that book. But don't read it like a normal book, find a psalm you like or you can connect to and meditate on it. I often experience how a totally different world of thought opens up.
After Giannitsa I visited Pella which was the Capital of Macededonia in the hellenistic period and the birth place of Philip and Alexander the Great. There is a good museum and a big archiolocial site that is quite impresseive becuase you can see a little bit how the people lived like in this time over 2400 years ago. In Pella I met two girls from Latvia and Germany and we traveled together the last 40 kilometers to Thessaloniki by bus. There I found a hotel for only 20 Euros, but it was the most ghetto hotel I've seen so far in Europe with puke in the toilet and the shower had no shower head etc. It was okey though for one night. I made a big effort to find someone to stay so I contacted some people via CouchSurfing.com and found a place to stay. The people there are so cool, especially the hosts. I'll stay there now for a few nights and even some people I stated with up in the mountains will come here to visit with me the film festival of Thessaloniki, which is happening right now.
When I stayed in Aigos Germanos in the mountains I had a lot of time to refocus on my pilgrimage. I made up my mind to continue without taking a long break somewhere, because I was thinking about staying in a city for the winter and then continue. I even had a job in Athens as a computer supporter but I felt quite strongly that I should continue going to Jerusalem. I made some adjustments though to how I make my distance. The most important way of transportation will still be my feet but I'll also hitch hike sometimes and maybe take even buses from time to time. The time of the year makes it to hard to only walk because it is cold and gets dark early, to sleep in my tent is also quite uncomfortable because I don't know what to do with myself being alone in the dark for so many hours before I can go to sleep and it is freakin' cold at night. Anyhow I'll still walk because it is so good for soul spirit and body, I notice every detail along the way. Mountains come closer slowly over days and I can feel the elements as make my distance. When traveling with a car I can still notice the landscape but it is like one big blurry picture in the end where I cannot remember much of what I've seen and experienced. It is also quite distracting and so the meditative aspect of walking is not preserved when using some sort of fast transportation. It was quite hard to make that decision because I felt like I would give up, but I realized that my main purpose for this trip was not walking but going on this spiritual journey where I can find God and myself.
Into Greece
After staying in Tirana I was motivated to move on by walking. In the morning after having coffee with the hosts of the hostel I walked towards Elbasan. The weather was nice and crisp after a lot of rain and I felt fresh motivation to do this. After walking the whole day I came by a restaurant that had rooms, I was in the mountains and I had found no place to put my tent so I decided to stay there for the night. Soon after I had made myself comfortable I found out that there was going to be live music. It was a great party. They played traditional Albanian folk songs and people danced besides eating the lamb meat that was grilled outside. It didn't take long and I joined them. They enjoyed it so much to have me dancing with them and it was much fun for me too.
The next morning I walked the remaining 25 kilometers to Elbasan, I had to constantly decline invitations to ride with someone in the car. The hardest was when two guys asked me if I want to join them to go visit Kosovo and then into Greece. They were two travelers with a car. Anyhow, I made it finally to Elbasan, which is one of the biggest cities besides Tirane in Albania. When I was walking around the city looking for a good and cheap hotel two guys sitting in a cafe invited me for a Congnac. When they found out that I'm looking for a hotel they invited me to stay with them for a few bucks. I was a little suspicious at first but they seemed to be okey and friendly. When we were still siting in the cafe the one guy told me he was a hustler and was in jail for nine years. I was a little perplexed by his honesty and got a little anxious what I might have gotten into. When we were at his apartement his girlfriend came home who is a prostitute. She cooked for us while we were smoking (I had to blend in, at least a little) and watching TV. It was a little hard to communicate becuase we had to talk in Italian. The whole evening I was questioning if this could be true what I'm experiancing here, because it was like watching a movie. The next morning I hiked on into the back-country of Albania to a town called Librazhd. It was the third day of walking again and suddenly the motivational low hit again. I literaly felt like I couldn't walk anymore and just somehow made it to a restaurant. I wasn't physically tired but mentally. After some encouragement from my mom I made it to the city where I stayed in a hotel for the night. I started to rethink how I want to make my distance and decided to take the bus to at least Macedonia. The next day was my birth day. I took some buses and taxis into Macedonia to a city called Ohrid. Located at the lake Ohrid, quite a touristic town, but not at this time of the year. I found a guest house that Edwin from Tirana suggested to me and as came in I met a guy I already hung out with in Tirana he was in Skopje and then came to Ohrid too. It was so good because I had someone to spend my birthday with and be a little distracted. In the evening we went out to a restaurant to eat some good meat. Ohrid was so beautiful that I decided to stay one more day.
After that I found a shared Taxi that drove me to Bitola and from there over the border into Greece to a city called Florina. As was just walking the streets in that little city I tried to think what I should do next. Then I remembered a guy I met in Dubrovnik (Croatia). He told me that he worked in a little village in the mountains close to the border to Macedonia and Albania and that I could visit them anytime and stay for a while if I wanted to. I called him and he said I should definitely come visit. So after I missed the last bus to there because my clock was one time zone behind, I hitch hiked up there.
I intended to spend only a few days there but I ended up being there for a whole week, but more about that in the next post.
Yey, Its my Birthday
The last few days have been the hardest so far of this trip. I've been thinking a lot why I'm doing this and seriously considered to abort the walking. Yesterday as I was in deep lowpoint somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the backcountry of Albania. My mom called me and encouraged me to keep going, she suggested I should do some hybrid thing until the border of Greece. Taking sometimes buses and speeding up the pace. That's what I'm doing now... I had to rethink my motivation for doing this trip. Is it to say I walked a long distance? No its not to walk a long distance and it isn't just for traveling either. I went on this hike to deepen my spirituality, to seek God. I knew that walking with its monotone and competitive character will serve to this cause. The last few weeks it has become more about just making the distance and keeping up to what I told people I would do. So I'm taking a break here in Ohrid (Macedonia) celebrating my birthday (yeah, in the Internet cafe right...), and will continue to the border of Greece with maybe walking or maybe taking the bus. On the 15th November my dad will come to Thessaloniki so I'm looking forward to this.
There are many stories to tell, from dancing in a random hotel in the mountains to living with sketchy gangsters and prostitutes, but more about that in my next post.
Thank you all for your SMS's. For those who send a SMS to my Croatian number I'm sorry I didn't reply, but there is no more money on it. I'll switch back to my Swiss number until I have a number form Greece.
The Land of Mercedes: Albania
The first impression of Albania I got in Shkoder a dirty but lively city in the north. I stayed there the night in a hotel. People are quite rough here but still hospitable and friendly. They try to help when you ask, sometimes I cant shake off the feeling the roughness comes from a sense of inferiority towards the "rich" wester countries. Anyhow, I like it here.
From Shkoder I started walking towards Tirane what would have taken around 3 days. As I asked someone for directions he was confused that I was walking and just stopped the next bus for me and shoved me in there, before I knew what was really happening I was in a bus into Tirane. Combined with my motivational low point it is hard for me to resist the continuous thread of being piked up by a car and driven to the next destination that would usually have to be hard earned work by foot. As I arrived no one could really tell me how to get to the hostel so a taxi driver helped me out again b driving me there. The hostel is awesome, its the only backpacker place in Tirane and the people are so cool. I stayed for three nights planing to get some rest and trying to refocus on my mission.
What am I dong this for? Why do I walk and not take buses? And how can I keep going when winter is coming? I spent time today to refocus. The problem is that all the admiration I get in the hostels for walking doesn't help too much, I need to see why I chose this and why I should keep going. I feel like the only valid reason is that it is not a geographical journey but a inner, spiritual journey. The times I profited most until now was when it was hard and I got somehow through instead of taking the easy way out. I don't mainly grow by sight seeing but by facing the challenges ahead of me. So with new strength I try to move on tomorrow.
Here's the link of the recommendable hostel: http://tiranahostel.com/
PS: It's true, there is a mind boggling amount of Mercedes here in Albania. The saying is: "The roads is bad, Mercedes is strong, Mercedes it is then".
Passing Through Montenegro
As I left Dubrovnik, I felt energized to move on into the hardest part of my trip down to Thessaloníki. Down here are no side roads or foot trails, so I had to walk along the main route, called route 8, towards Montenegro. I slept in a house along the street for the usual price in Croatia (100 Kuna) and hiked over the borer to Montenegro. Its always a bit special because the people look at me quite weired as I line up on behind the cars that pass over the border. From there I went to Herceg Novi, a beautiful little town on the entrance to the large bay that leads to the fjord of Kotor. Where the river bay almost meets I could pass over the channel with a car ferry and walk to Tivat where I spend the night in an apartment. On my map I saw that there was a monastery along my way and guessed I could sleep there. I had to travel along a intensely used road where the air was extremely polluted. I get so frustrated and angry at those cars and buses and hope I don't get any health damage. When I arrived at the monastery before sunset I was told that I could not sleep there. I was so sad and discouraged because I was looking forward the whole day to stay there, especially after a tour guide told me I could spent the night at that place. I got permission to sleep in the garden with my tent though, which was quite nice but storm clouds started showing up. After I cooked something I looked a little bit at the monastery and watched how the orthodox church does the liturgy called "liturgia". The night was stormy and a lot of rain. It's actually quite nice to sleep in the tent when its storming, because I can feel the elements but be warm an cozy in my sleeping bag. The next day was not much different, walking in rain along the main road, it was dull and is mostly a mental exercise to somehow get the 30 kilometers done. When I arrived in Bar it was already getting dark and I was quite frustrated because I couldn't find a place to sleep so I just walked up to two police guys to try my luck there. They where keen to help and one guy called a friend who arrived 10 minutes later with his car. He offered me to stay in his house for some bucks what I happily accepted. I stayed there for two nights because it was raining and I hoped it would get better after that. When it was time to move on the weather wasn't better but my mood was and so I went about to do do the last few kilometers to the border of Albania. Shortly before the border someone offered me ride to the fist city in Albania called Shkoder. I went with them realizing that it was going to be hard to stick to only walking because people don't understand what I'm doing and just want to take me with the car.
Its hard for me to walk right now. There were some things happening in my close relationships which set me back emotionally. The days are short now, so I have to find a place for the night before 5 o'clock and the weather isn't on my side anymore either. I think its a motivational low and the temptation is big to just take the buses and rides to the cities... more about that in my next post.
Walking Around the World
No, thats not my new plan, but there is guy who is just doing that! He's in Turkey right now and shows what is a true commitment to walking. He started over 7 years ago and is still going for another 5 years, crazy, eh? (he's Canadian)
See for yourself http://www.wwwalk.org/
Big Respect!
The Dalmatian Coast
It felt good to go about the second half of Croatia, there was much to expect I had Šibenik ahead of me, Trogir, Split and Dubrovnik. The main road leads along the coast southwards so I didn't even had to use maps, I could just walk. The first stop was at Biograd, a small sleepy port town. There were many places for camping but the most places were closed and when I finally found a camping sight that was open there was no one around. Somehow I could arrange myself in the end though. I was too lazy to but up mt tent so I slept in the bathroom on the floor with my sleeping bag, since I was the only person besides two Germans it didn't matter. The next day I moved closer to Šibenik but had to camp beside the street somewhere because it was getting dark. The shepherds since old times clear the ground of the many rocks to create small patches of grass for the animals so its quite easy to find a place to put a tent but its difficult to put it up right so that I stands against the harsh wind for a whole night. From there it was only a few hours to Šibenik where I enjoyed a cappuccino and visited the famous basilica. From there I hiked land inwards, taking a shortcut saving me almost 30 kilometers to Split. As soon as you go away from the coast here in Croatia, life gets quite simple. People farm olives and grapes, live in little houses and smile at me as I hike by like an alien. Again I camped out on a grass patch beside the street. It gets dark around seven around now. So I usually crawl into my tent read a little and go to sleep around eight or nine. I like it, because its such a different lifestyle from staying up late every day and being always so busy. The only errand to do is putting up the tent and eating something then if I want I read or pray a little. I mostly read the bible (I have no other book with me), prayer means for me mostly to consciously acknowledge the presence of god as I become quite inside and push away the worries of life. It is not so much of just saying things to god, even though I do that too but more trying to have a heart attitude directed upwards.
The next day I could walk to Trogir which is another port town and from there I tried to get to Split. A underground taxi driver (they have no signs on their car and don't pay taxes), stopped around 15 kilometers before split and insisted for me to go with him. He brought me right into split. In a tourist office I asked for a hostel, a lady heard me talking to them and came after me outside the office and offered me a room right beside the city center for a good price. I took the room for two nights so that I could explore split and have time to work out some things with Chrystal. Split it big and full of life, the ancient town part is gorgeous and very enjoyable.
After Split I followed the road from tourist town to tourist town. The camping sights are empty and mostly closed but people didn't mind when I stayed there. In Split I bough a cooking pot so I made a fire sometimes and cooked soup or goulash out of the can which is actually quite good. The tourist season is over and the towns are getting empty and dead. Tourism is like the life in the veins along the coast. Every fall its bleeding out and the villages become like ghost towns. Places where easily could be 10'000 people in the summer, are almost empty now and sometimes I meet only ten people or so. The coast is so beautiful and rich on amazing sights so I can understand why it has been sold out to tourism but its sad that the Croatian way of life is lost here.
I was still three days away from Dubrovnik, in midst of farming land and it was getting dark, there was no place to camp out and there was only a nice hotel. As I asked around if there were any cheap rooms or so but here weren't any so I took the hotel, it felt so nice after two days of cold harsh weather and camping. The next morning I move on southwards, at lunch time I met a swiss guy that was taking a break along the road. His last name is also Buehler (what a coincidence) and it was cool to have someone to talk to in Swiss-German. He moved on with his bicycle, and I by foot. I passed through the 10km corridor that Sarajevo has to the sea. Around 65km before Dubrovnik it was still three days to go, but then a car stopped of some construction workers and asked me if I wanted to ride with them to Dubrovnik, without much thinking I accepted the ride. In the car I realized that I just took a huge shortcut, I didn't mind though as the weather was getting very bad and stormy. In Dubrovnik they tried to find a room form me and finally brought be directly to the youth hostel. Right in that moment when I got there, the swiss guy I met earlier, also arrived with his bike. We took a room together and went out for dinner. We talked a lot about traveling because he has traveled half of the world with his bike, its crazy to hear his stories.
Now I'm in the beautiful old town of Dubrovnik three days early. The weather is horrible tough and I'm so glad I got out of this. There are many nice cafes to hide from the cold wind and rain that has arrived after almost one month of continuous sunshine.
Categories
- Miscellaneous (21)
- Blog (7)
- Link (3)
- Uncategorized (5)
- Video (2)
- Travels (68)
- Work & Dev (2)
- Writing (7)
Archives
Flickr Photos
|
