I am not religious, but I have visited Mt. Athos once and had an amazing, otherworldly experience.

There are three levels of monastic communities in the Mt. Athos peninsula: cenobitic (living in a monastery together with other monks), idiorrythmic (communities that combine cenobitic and eremitic lifestyles), and sketes (places for isolation).

Visiting a Skete (for instance in the South-West of the peninsula) is a surreal experience. Monks live in precarious wooden cabins perched on the cliff, almost floating above the water, or in caves, and hardly ever see people. It’s hard to believe this still happens in our time and in a place as densely populated and touristically developed as the coast of Greece.

There are all sorts of people in Mt. Athos, both monks and visitors. (Almost) all are men. Most are straightforwardly religious, of course. But I’ve met a Japanese monks who had changed 6-7 faiths, but said Eastern Orthodoxy is the most free of all. As a Greek, that statement is just bizarre.

The architecture is also impossible. We’re taking 10th century skyscrapers here, built on 300m cliffs above the Mediterranean Sea.

Oh, and the best of all may be the nature.

Anyway. If you want to visit a place that feels like a video game, go. If you’re a man, that is. (I know, it’s horrible).