点评:The visit was done during a pilgrimage so we had some kind of idea what to expect.
When we arrived, the place was closed due to the rest period the nuns have during the day and we had to wait around an hour for the monastery to open. Of course, they need their rest too especially since the the nuns we saw were senior citizens. The gardens, the location and the view was breathtaking, so fortunately the wait went rather quickly.
We got a private tour of the non-restricted areas along with a Greek family we tagged around with. Sadly the English language proficiency of the residents was very poor and thus, the place is not well suited for non-Greek speakers. We were fortunate that the Greek family had one member who had at least a very basic level of spoken English to translate some of the guidance, otherwise the trip would have been very disappointing.
The road to the monastery is dangerous due to road functioning as a two-way road but had only one lane at some parts of the way. We got lucky we were got to a spot where we could reverse safely to let two car past us. The road also has bends at rather high altitude on the hillside and had no safety rails which was genuinely surprising. This is dangerous even if there are cars going one way, not to mention both ways. People with poor to average driving skills should skip driving to the place all together unless you want to risk driving down the gorge. This of course is likely of no fault of the sisterhood at the monastery, but under the responsibility of the municipality.
The shop was operated by non-English speaker, which led to using hand gestures, otherwise the store is pretty well stocked with interesting items for the orthodox.
Lastly, I got the best loukoumi I have ever had in my life which counts for something atleast.
翻译:这次访问是在朝圣期间进行的,所以我们对会发生什么有一些想法。
当我们到达时,由于白天尼姑的休息时间,这个地方关闭了,我们不得不等待大约一个小时才能开放。当然,她们也需要休息,尤其是我们看到的尼姑都是老年人。花园、位置和景色都令人叹为观止,幸运的是等待的时间相当快。
我们和一个希腊家庭一起参观了非限制区。遗憾的是,居民的英语水平很差,因此,这个地方不太适合非希腊语人士。我们很幸运,希腊家庭有一位至少具有非常基本的英语口语水平的成员来翻译一些指导,否则这次旅行将会非常令人失望。
通往寺院的道路是双向的,但有些地方只有单车道,因此很危险。我们很幸运,我们到达了一个可以安全倒车的地方,让两辆车从我们身边经过。这条路在山坡上还有海拔相当高的弯道,而且没有安全栏杆,这着实令人惊讶。即使有汽车单向行驶也是危险的,更不用说双向行驶了。驾驶技术较差或一般的人应该避免开车去这个地方,除非你想冒险开车下峡谷。当然,这可能不是修道院姐妹会的错,而是市政府的责任。
这家商店是由不会说英语的人经营的,这导致需要使用手势,否则商店里备有很多适合正统人士的有趣物品。
最后,我得到了我一生中吃过的最好的 loukoumi,这至少是有价值的。