Dawn at Saint Anna’s Skete

Agion Oros, 2006 The air is cool and is right thick with birdsong as our bleary crew files out, of a sudden disinterred from three sepulchral hours of prayer into an amber brilliance rioting outside the cemetery chapel. With bits of   Greek and English intermixed, the monks invite us to the portico for coffee, παξιμάδια, a shot of cold ρακί. As I say, the air is cool, animate and lit, and in such light the road already beckons, so I skip the coffee, pound the shot, and pocket two hard biscuits. And yes, the way is broad at first, but narrows soon enough. παξιμάδια — pahximáthia — Greek biscotti; ρακί — rahkeé — Greek grappa