30 March 2025 – Monastery of Hosios Loukas

Miles driven today = 33

Total Miles to date = 2,551

Church Bells in Greece are nothing like the melodic peeling we are used to at home.  The bells here at the Monastery of Hosios Loukas start with a high pitched clang which is then joined by 3 successively lower pitched notes, all of which seems to be very random and unrhythmic.  Jarring even, especially when they start going off at 7am, which, of course, felt to us more like 6am what with the clocks jumping forward by an hour overnight while we snored away gently in the Monastery’s car park.

We envisaged having the place pretty much entirely to ourselves this morning.  The Rough Guide gives the impression that, although there are still a few monks here keeping the place in order, it is to all intents and purposes a museum nowadays.  Wrong!  Today is one of many Saints’ Feast Days in the Greek Orthodox calendar and the car park was already full by the time we made our way down the steps just after 8:30am with a couple of policemen setting out cones to keep things orderly.

The main Church is the Katholikon.  Inside the priests were already well into a 3+ hour wailathon with plenty of people crowded inside so we felt rather awkward about invading their space and taking photos while that was going on. 

So instead we headed down into the Crypt.

Most of the frescoes down here are apparently post-Byzantine.  We spotted a few instances where the Saints’ eyes had been gouged out similar to what we saw in Italy last year, where they were defaced by Islamic invaders.

I believed this chap to be Hosios Loukas himself.  He was a 10^th Century hermit who was native to the Corinthian Gulf and spent much of his life travelling around it before initiating his own monastic community here.

The “dirging”, as Lisa called it, was  still ongoing so we had a look around the building which used to be the monks’ refectory but now houses a museum of original sculptures from Hosios Loukas and other local monasteries. 

Original carved lintels from the 11^th Century.

A marble Capitol from a pillar of the same era.

Next we had a look around a gallery which originally used to be a dormitory for the monks before being converted into a storage space.  It gave us a lot of interesting background information and historical timelines.

This is a representation of what one of the monk’s cells would have looked like back in the day. 

The Katholikon dates from 1040 AD.  The design is thought to have been copied as inspiration for the building of the churches we saw in Mystra earlier on this trip.

The Theotokis is even older and was constructed during the second half of the 10^th Century, shortly after old Loukas breathed his last.

The priests were still chuntering away so we retired back to the van so that Lisa could finish her breakfast.  The car park was now overflowing and busloads of kids were starting to appear dressed in traditional costume, together with a party of tourists who must have wondered what on Earth was going on.

So we had one more go at getting into the two main churches.  I get the impression that, other than the odd occasion when everybody crosses themselves furiously, there is very little audience participation in Orthodox services.  One priest whitters on for a while and then when he starts running out of steam another will chirp up and take over.  But the congregation all just seem to find themselves a quiet corner to listen and I spotted at least one parishioner who had dozed off altogether. 

I summoned up the courage to ignore what I perceived to be disparaging glances and have a good look round the Theotokis, which was relatively austere and ungaudy in appearance. 

But still very impressive for a building well over 1,000 years old.

I still didn’t make it past the front foyer of the Katholikon but luckily some of the best preserved mosaics are to be found in that area.

A lot were damaged in an earthquake in 1659 and I am sure they have been heavily restored but to think that these were originally created in the 11^th Century is really quite amazing.

The “dirging” was due to continue for at least another half an hour so we called it a day.  Dancing was due to take place in the courtyard at lunchtime but we weren’t tempted to stay any longer.

So we took in one more look at that phenomenal view and vacated our prime car park real estate for the locals, who were still arriving in their hordes.

We backtracked through Steiri and Distomo and continued to climb to the town of Arachova which sits at an elevation of just shy of 1,000 metres.  It was heaving.  Well heeled Athenians come here for winter weekend breaks and they were arriving by the busload and pouring into the tavernas.  We weaved our way through the narrow streets and dropped down a steep series of hairpin bends to Delphi.

We considered having a look at the archeological site if it wasn’t too busy but again there were throngs of people so we continued through the modern town to our overnight stop at Camping Apollon.  It’s supposed to be a €25 ACSI site but the guy who met us on reception insisted that electric hook up is extra.  We argued the toss for a good while and I even threatened to drive on to the next site just down the road but he wouldn’t back down so for the sake of another €3 I decided not to cut off my nose.

We’ve certainly got a spectacular view from our rather sloping pitch.  We’re not quite on the edge of a cliff, as the picture might suggest, but leaving the handbrake off and accidentally driving through that hedge wouldn’t be a particularly sensible move.

We do have an amazing view looking down to the town of Itea on the north coast of the Corinthian Gulf.

And this is the road that we will be taking when we drive out of here tomorrow after we have a good look around the ancient Sanctuary of Delphi.  As well as hairpins it actually loops back underneath itself in order to deal with the gradient.

31 March 2025 - Delphi