Greece

I went to Greece several times, either on my way to Turkey, or as a tourist, or even as a kind of pilgrim (not zealous at all) to Patmos, Lipsi, Meteora and Mount Athos.

Being in Patmos in 2002, we went to Lipsi the day of the annual Festival in the old church of Panagia Harou known for its icon of the Virgin Mary holding a tiny crucified Christ in her arms. It was August 22. The annually expected miracle happened again this time: a Greek confirmed to me – albeit vaguely – that the flowers had budded on the crown surrounding the icon. Personally, I didn’t see anything conclusive. Like all the participants, we received some blessed bread (large slices of bread) before returning to Paros the same night on a stormy sea. Our landlady was delighted that we had brought her some of this bread.

In 2003, I felt like visiting one of the most secret places on the planet, Mount Athos. There, only Greek males and a few (exclusively Christian) foreigners were admitted, after many procedures. I swore that I was a Catholic and thus obtained after six months my three-day visa…