Kaisariani Monastery: A slide show

[Kaisariani monastery: A slide show]

 

A virtual tour of all the premises of the Byzantine Monastery of Kaisariani (11 c.) on Mt. Hymittos near Athens

in the form of a slide show with extensive presentation of wall paintings in the church.

 

Duration 33' 26"

 

Watching it in FULL SCREEN is recommended.

(Make sure you have your cup of coffee with you to avoid viewing interruption!!!)

• Music:

https://www.purple-planet.com

 

• Liturgical Chant:

excerpts from live transmissions of the Divine Liturgy at Athens Cathedral by ERT 2,

from "Τα Πάθη τα Σεπτά" broadcasted in 2011 by ERT 3 (Voice of Charilaos Taliadoros),

and from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c58KR... (Voice of Dimitrios Papagiannopoulos) 

 

• Script:

based on the leaflet "Kaisariani Monastery" by Aik. Pantelidou - Alexiadou:

distributed free by The Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports 

 

Redistribution is allowed as long as the slide show remains unaltered 

and proper reference is made to the source.

 

Photographs taken in 2016-2020

 

Το slide show είναι διαθέσιμο και με ελληνικούς υπότιτλους στο YouTube.

Για να μεταφερθείτε εκεί, παρακαλώ, κάντε κλικ ΕΔΩ.

Spheniscus demersus [African penguin]

303_9737 [Spheniscus demersus]

 

303_9742 [Spheniscus demersus]

 

A lovable and charismatic seabird that unfortunately faces several threats and is in danger of extinction.

I had the chance to see and photograph it in Attica Zoological Park οn September 19, 2012.

 

Please click on the pictures for a better view.

 

 

303_9747 [Spheniscus demersus]

 Info board displayed next to the penguins’ location

 

 

Irakleia bay

302_5236 [Irakleia bay]

 

As I was standing at my window early in the morning today, I was looking at the gloomy, rainy weather outside that was setting off all sorts of depressing feelings. Doing so is not the best thing to do if you need to counterbalance feelings produced by such weather and experienced in the middle of a pandemic. Fortunately, I subconsciously remembered a short, summer trip to Irakleia: a small gem-island in the Greek Small Cyclades. I had visited the island to take pictures of flowers there but I also had the chance to dive into clear turquoise waters and relax in an unprecedentedly tranquil island environment! My thoughts about it proved to be the perfect antidote to my mood! It reacted in only a few seconds!

 

Need to change your mood to the better?

Just click on the picture for a better view and recall similar experiences of yours.

 

Photographed in 2010

 

 

Crocus cartwrightianus

304_5113 [Crocus cartwrightianus]

 

Ideally, one of these days I would go to a nearby mountain and take some fresh pictures of Crosus cartwrightianus but this ‘scenario’ is not possible. The current circumstances of Covid 19 lockdown have confined me home. So, instead, I searched my photo archive and selected an old picture to share with you; and there is a reason for my selection. 

 

Some years ago, I found the flower above in the center of Ilioupoli (a major residential area, part of Athens). I wanted to see it from close before I took a picture of it but getting close was next to impossible because the area was fenced off all around. So, rather than missing the picture altogether, I used my long telephoto and took the picture from behind the tall wire fence. So far so good.  

 

304_5126 [Crocus cartwrightianus]

 

Then, using the same lens, I took a picture of another cartwrightianus, and left in order to go and visit a friend of mine.

Looking at the pictures on my computer screen at home, I noticed that there was only one red style in the second picture instead of three! Where are the other two styles? I still wonder. 

 

No tricks with the camera, no alteration of the picture in processing on my part, I assure you.

 

Anybody out there having a clue? 

 

Photographed on November 20, 2014

Crocus laevigatus

803_8112 [Crocus laevigatus]

A small, scented, widespread crocus with white or slightly lilac tepals.

Its purple stripes on the tepals attract your attention from a distance.

It can be found up to a height of 1500 m.

Photographed on Mt. Hymittos in November 2020

 

DSCN3040 [Crocus laevigatus]

This picture was taken on Mt. Parnonas in October, 2008

Sternbergia lutea

803_7998 [Sternbergia lutea]

803_8001 [Sternbergia lutea]

 

This elegant beauty appears yearly from September to November.

It loves stony grounds but I found it among pine-needles at the foot of Mt. Hymittos.

 

Photographed on October 16, 2020

 

 

Saint George and Saint Irene

Please click on the pictures for a better view. 

 

803_1101 [Saint George Papagou]

A Greek Orthodox church dedicated to Saint George and Saint Irene, found at the residential area of Papagos very close to the foot of Mt. Hymittos. It was opened to the public in 2011 but it was inaugurated in 2018. I found it architecturally attractive and photographically inviting, although it is very similar to many Greek Orthodox churches I had seen before.

 

803_1625 [Saint George Papagou]

 

The interior, however, is quite dissimilar to other churches. 

 

[If you want to see an example of a dissimilar church, please click HERE.]

 

What surprised me, however, were the stained-glass windows it is decorated with, which as far as I know, are not a common feature of Greek Orthodox churches.

 

Here follow four such windows:

803_1612 - 803_1611 [Kosmas + Damianos]

 

803_1614 + 803_1615 [Nektarios + Nikolaos]

 

All photographed on March 28, 2018

 

 

Crocus cancellatus subsp. mazziaricus

802_1929 [Crocus cancellatus subsp. mazziaricus]

 

A widespread crocus that blooms from September to November.

It can be found in a variety of habitats up to a height of 1500 m.

 

 

Spiranthes spiralis

304_0496 [Spiranthes spiralis]

 

 

803_7891 [Spiranthes spiralis]

 

 

803_7991 [Spiranthes spiralis]

Spiranthes spiralis: A small wild orchid with an unusual shape.

Its small whitish flowers (up to 5 mm wide) appear spirally around the upper part of its 10-15 cm stalk, providing a good reason for it to be called ‘spiralis’. It can be found in various European countries, North Africa and all the way to Iran.

It blooms in October and November. 

 

Photographed at the foot of Mt. Hymittos on October 16, 2020

 

 

Colchicum sfikasianum

803_7853 [Colchicum sfikasianum]

Colchicum sfikasianum is one of the 31 species of Colchicum that grow in Greece, 12 of which are endemics.

When it flowers in Autumn it comes straight out of the ground with no leaves, which appear in Spring. 

It is local to Mt. Hymittos, SE Peloponnese and to the island of Kefalonia.

 

The picture above was taken on Mt. Hymittos on October 1, 2020

 

 

Paeonia daurica subsp. mlokosewitschii

802_5874 [Paeonia daurica subsp. mlokosewitschii]
 

Native to Caucasus mountains.

 

Photographed in the Diomedes Botanical Gardens in Athens a couple, or so, of years ago.

 

 

Cyclamen graecum

802_1953 [Cyclamen graecum]

Photographed on Mt. Hymittos on October 1, 2020

 

 

Dubai: memories from the past

_MG_6048 [Dubai: memories from the past]

 

The boat in the picture is a boat-restaurant.

Tourists on board enjoy a night view of Dubai or they take advantage of an opportunity to try a selection of local and international specialties for their evening meals while the boat is on a cruise along Dubai creek.

 

The picture was taken from our boat-restaurant that happened to be moving the opposite direction at that moment.

 

Dubai memories from November 21, 2007

 

Please click on the picture for a better view.

Colchicum bivonae

803_7818 [Colchicum bivonae]

 

This colchicum blooms as soon as we have the first cold in Autumn. So, the fact that the flower above was the only one bivonae I found on my recent visit to Parnitha most probably indicates that cold weather is on the way! [Some sort of primitive Meteorological Service!!!]

 

Beautiful but the whole plant contains colchicine, a poison that Medea used to kill her children in Kolchida! 

 

Photographed on Mt. Parnitha on September 12, 202

 

 

Patroklos and the Milky Way

803_2235 [Patroklos]

 

I had just taken a series of photos of a lunar eclipse over the Temple of Apollo on Cape Sounio [You can see the eclipse here.] and was about to return home when the boats near the little island of Patroklos and their reflections on the water looked tempting to my sleepy eyes at 1:30 in the morning. I confess, I am not strong enough to resist photographic temptations, so I decided to take 1-2 more photos - the last ones - for the night. The stars above were not visible to the human eye but PhotoPills - my mobile photo-advising App - ensured me that part of the Milky Way was still over the little island of Patroklos at that time.

So, I turned my camera towards a new direction and once again yielded to the temptation.

The outcome on the computer screen on the following day reminded me of David’s Psalm that reads:

“The heavens declare the glory of God; The skies proclaim the work of his hands.”

 

Photographed at Sounio on July 27, 2018 

 

Please click on the picture for a better view

 

 

Pancratium maritimum

801_6220 [Pancratium maritimum]

I consider Pancratium maritimum one of the most attractive plants in the Mediterranean countries.

Its large, pure white, trumpet-shaped flowers are of striking beauty and appear from July onwards.

Its leaves, contrary to most flowers, are green in winter but they get dry when the flowers appear.

 

 

302_9242 [Pancratium matitimum]

 

It grows from a bulb which is buried deep into the sand:

a fact that allows the plant to withstand the heat in the hottest months of the year.

 

 

IMG_8712 [Pancratium maritimun]

 

We rarely see single plants emerging from the sand.

Instead, we see it come out in clusters.

 

 

IMG_8674 [Pancratium maritimum]

 

IMG_8699[Pancratium maritimum]

 

The fruit of the plant.

 

 

All photographs were taken at Legrena on various summer dates over the last 3-4 years.

 

 

The Acropolis of Athens

Please click on the picture for a better view. 

 

803_6643 [Acropolis]

 

 An early evening view of the well-known, much-photographed, Acropolis of Athens.

 

The sun was setting exactly behind the Parthenon that day and I was hoping for a spectacular sunset to combine with the Parthenon in the foreground but my hope remained only an unfulfilled wish. The sky was dull, the lighting conditions in the area were rather poor but the Parthenon was again as spectacular as ever. To avoid going home with an empty basket, I faced my challenging task by using the HDR technique (7 images stalked) so that I could record as much detail as possible. I am sharing with you whatever I managed to get and look forward to another opportunity with better conditions.

 

The picture was taken from the roof terrace of a friend’s house in the center of Athens on July 19, 2020.

 

 

Pinguicula balcanica

302_7171 [Pinguicula balcanica]

 

  A carnivorous plant found in heights between 900-2.500m.

Like most carnivorous plants, it grows in wet, nutrient-poor soils. 

 

For more info about them 

please see a post of a similar plant HERE.

 

Photographed on Mt. Voras on June 04, 2010

 

 

Cicada orni

803_6811 [Cicada orni]

 

 g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g g …. All day long! All summer!

 

Cicada: The well-known insect with the familiar sound.

 

One evening one of them landed on the awning over our balcony to spend the night. I was very close but I didn’t pay attention to it. The following evening, it came back to almost the same spot. Accidentally? On purpose? Was it the same insect? Who knows? I prepared my camera and pressed the shutter release just in case it had come on purpose to be photographed!

 

Photographed in Holargos on August 08 2020

 

 

Ag. Eirini

801_8427 [Ag. Eirini]

This little church, dedicated to St. Eirini, can be found at the very foot of Mt. Hymittos next to the residential area of Argyroupolis in Athens. It takes nearby residents only five minutes’ walk to get there and, besides lighting their own candle in the church, they can picnic in a beautiful spot arranged to that purpose under the trees.

Photographed on November 09, 2014

Please click on the picture for a better view.

Solanum eleagnifolium

801_0529 [Solanum eleagnifolium]

The fruit of Solanum eleagnifolium

Photographed in Athens on September 25, 2013

Alectoris chukar

803_4559 [Alectoris chukar]

Photographed on Mt. Hymittos on April 11, 2019

For other pictures of a chukar please click HERE.

Notobasis syriaca

803_6205 [Notobasis syriaca]

Native mainly to the Mediterranean countries and more, like Iran and Azerbaijan.
It grows to 30–100 cm tall, while the flower itself is about 2 cm in diameter.
If you happen to come across it, be careful of its needle-pointed leaves!

Photographed at Schinias on May 09, 2020

Anacamptis palustris

803_6159 [Anacamptis palustris]

Photographed at Schinias on May 09, 2020

Cephalanthera rubra

803_6399 [Cephalanthera rubra]

Photographed on Mt. Parnitha on June 19, 2020

Capparis spinosa

803_6316 [Capparis spinosa]

Photographed at OAKA on June 13, 2020

Paeonia mascula hellenica

301_9101 [Paeonia mascula hellenica]

301_9131 [Paeonia mascula hellenica]

301_9143 {Paeonia mascula hellenica]

All photographs were taken some years ago on Mt. Ohi in Evoia

where there is a large colony of this flower.

301_9143 [Paeonia mascula hellenica]

Photo: Courtesy of Stathis Tsekouras

The blogger among hundreds of peonies obviously happy - for his friend and for himself -

for having found the flower after a long journey.

Thanks to Stathis Tsekouras for "immortalizing" the moment!

Arum italicum

803_6215 [Arum italicum]

Photographed at Schinias on May 09, 2020

Centranthus ruber

803_6130 [Centranthus ruber]

Photographed on Mt. Hymittos on May 05, 2020

Anacamptis pyramidalis

803_6249 [Neotinea tridentata]

Photographed on Mt. Hymittos on May 14, 2020

Trifolium stellatum

803_6281 [Trifolium stellatum]

Trifolium stellatum near the end of its life this year

Photographed on Mt. Hymittos on May 14, 2020

Limodorum abortivum

803_6118 [Limodorum abortivum]

803_6110 [Limodorum abortivum]

Both photographed on Mt. Hymittos on May 05, 2020

Viola doerfleri

302_7132 [Viola doerfleri]

This beauty grows on Mt. Voras at heights 1750-2500 m.

Photographed on June 04, 2010