Mount Athos: Special, spiritual sailing experience.

Our sailing holidays were running smoothly. Everybody on the yacht was extremely relaxed and happy. Previous night was another unique experience. We had the opportunity to visit the small island of Amouliani, after spending amazing time on the fantastic beaches and the characteristic “Donkey Islands”.

We were now sailing towards  an area with long history.

Some miles south from Amouliani there is the 3rd “finger” of Halkidiki, the Mount Athos Peninsula. This sacred community has more than 1000 years of religious Greek Orthodox history. It’s a kind of independent country in Greece.

The Holy community consisted of 20 Monasteries and a big community of Monks, where  only men are allowed to step on it. Men tourists are allowed there under a special visa permission so our yacht was not possible to approach closer than 500 meters from the cliffs of the Peninsula.

We were cruising southbound toward the main entry point Dafni, passing by some Monasteries visible from our yacht when some dolphins appeared on our bow started playing with the white waves. No matter how religious the crew was a heat wave of spirituality and long history was blowing among us.

It was amazing how the monks ages ago succeeded in building their monasteries with most characteristic example the monastery of Simonos Petra.

Our short pilgrimage and cultural break ended when we changed course to the west and the sandy beaches of Sithonia and the beach of Armenistis.

Cruising on the calm waters, we enjoyed our snacks full of Greek traditional food and some ice cold traditional Greek ouzo, the famous drink of Greeks.

The next sandy beach is in front of us. The crew enjoyed the short spiritual and cultural break.

“Let’s jump in the crystal clear waters and enjoy this real piece of paradise on earth.”

I’m thinking to myself … “come on, only 364 days left for my next paradise cruise with allinBlusive to those wonderful beaches, I need to book today my next sailing cruise experience.”