On Thursday morning, we met Fitzgeralds at the Greek Monastery, nine miles south of Florence. It's out in the barren desert in the middle of nowhere. Someone referred to it as an oasis, and that's pretty appropriate. The monastery was started in 1996 by 6 monks, and today there are 40. Their days and nights are filled with prayer, work, and some rest periods. There are five finished chapels and one almost finished up on a hill. There are also other buildings consisting of living quarters, a dining room and offices. In between and all around are gazebos, fountains, crosses, trees, bushes and flowers. Everyone who enters, has to be clothed appropriately. Men have to wear long pants, long sleeved shirts and covered feet. Women have to wear long skirts, long sleeved shirts that are modest, scarves tied under your chin and socks and flat shoes. If you don't have what you need, they give it to you to wear.It was 86 degrees by the time we left, and we were hot. The tour starts after a monk serves you a welcoming cookie.
Ain't we cute!!
Onward to the main chapel.
After the first chapel, they give you a map, and you're on your own. All five churches are basically the same,as far as icons, chandeliers and chairs around the sides, but some have wood, some marble and they're different sizes. This is the next one.
Sitting and standing in the chairs inappropriately-women sit on one side and men on the other.
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