We walked and walked, and finally arrived at the Monastery of the Holy Great Martyr Theodore Stratelates. Which suits us just fine, because we're sort of great martyrs ourselves — trekking through the mountains on foot and dragging our bikes along. I hope Theodore didn't suffer too much with his bike, considering he probably didn't even have a gear shifter.
This is what the path to the monastery looks like
And here's the view of the neighboring cliffs
Entrance to the monastery
General view
At the monastery, an imposing-looking skinny priest told us a bit about the history of this place. In the best of times, 50-100 monks inhabited the monastery's cells, located right inside the stone cliff.
And yet they could have been doing something useful, instead of sitting their asses on cold, hard stone!
Resting from our righteous labors. I'm smeared with green antiseptic, hope you remember why.
Not a bad view, Punk would live here
Premium-class cells for abbots and archimandrites
"Luxury" class cell for bishops
Monastic life should be lived in harmony with nature
Drying spices?
To reach the Lord, prayers alone aren't enough, you also need a powerful sound system
The rock has some pretty nice textures
Those wishing to visit the church itself must cover their knees
Sexy-sexy Vlad
Punk could become a monk right now, and me — a sex symbol
Nina is trying to feel the local meditative spirit
And here is the actual church at the monastery, complete with a trendy plastic door
Inside there are oil lamps, an iconostasis, everything sparkles with gold and smells of frankincense and other head-rushing substances. Curiously, they had to put the dome next to it, since the monastery itself is inside a cave. The monastery also has a baptismal font and a spring.
I liked the monastery, I've never seen anything like it, modern people living in a cave. The things religion does to your head! Everything is authentic, they hold services in the church, they dragged the dome along the path just to install it. There's a book about the monastery sold right on site, but nothing else special is provided for tourists, thankfully.
About the font I can only say this:
And this is what it looks like
And you can get to it right here
The spring. Domes and crosses everywhere. I would even call Ukraine the land of golden domes and crosses.
And here is the main dome. It's surely titanium nitride, not gold leaf, more practical and cheaper.
The touristos are studying the holes in the floor
"And what's there to take pictures of? Just some stupid holes!"
They haven't run electricity up to the monastery, but at least there are solar panels
But new adventures are already waiting for us!