In a boutique in Limenas, we inquire about the bus to Panagia. Since it's late in the afternoon, the otherwise kind owner asks us worriedly - you're not going to go there now, are you? No more buses. When we explained to her that this was our plan for tomorrow, she laughed. Yes, the morning buses leave opposite the Ferry Port.
In the morning we go to that station - we recognize it by the parked buses, otherwise there is no visible sign. Only above the small shop on the ground floor of the two-story building is written "Bus station".
In the footsteps of an Austrian nobleman
If you think that the historical importance of a mountain village on Thassos is not enough of a reason to go there, Anton Prokesch von Osten, Austrian general, diplomat count and travel writer from Graz will convince you otherwise. In the 19th century, he spent several decades in the Greek world that was breaking free from Ottoman rule - both in diplomatic missions and in travels.
In his work "Things worthy of mention and memory from the Orient" he described the visit to Panagia.
"If you reach the mountain ridge, then you descend towards the south towards the village of Panagija, which is an hour and a half walk from the coast. It seems that the place is rich, all the houses are made of stone covered with slate tiles. All around are bare, rocky slopes, high peaks, dense forests, and far down to the east, across a lowland covered with olive trees, the view reaches all the way to the sea. We stayed in a peasant's house. The host took us to a spring in the place, where water flows from the rock and is distributed over the field in narrow channels. Next to it is a place for prayer and rest, shrouded in holy shade. They hospitably brought us bread, cheese and honey. Because of countless snails, we didn't even close an eye at night".
Uphill
Here we are, a century after the Austrian travel writer, climbing the slopes, the main island road into the hills, reclining comfortably in the bus seats. There is a dense forest on both sides. On the right is a quarry that has eaten half of the neighboring hill. Thassos is famous for the marble blocks that are taken out of its entrails.
The bus will take half an hour for the journey that Anton Prokeš covered in an hour and a half a century ago. Admittedly, it is only ten kilometers from Limenas, but the curves do not allow fast driving. And the Greek driver is in no hurry. Slowness is an island privilege.
The bus engine changes its sound, like a sigh of relief, and we start to descend. Behind a bend, on the right, houses are visible, and on the left, deep below, you can see the sea.
Although when entering the bus, from below, from the coast, we looked a little worriedly at the hills covered in fog, on this side of the mountain in the direction of the sea there is not a cloud. The lush greenery of the steep slopes and the sea, whose color overflows in all shades of turquoise and blue, take your breath away.
Village under the clouds
But above, above the village, the clouds are stuck on the top of the mountain and cannot disperse. Behind the sign announcing Panagia I see a house with a flag that I recognize. The village is obviously the territory of the Thessaloniki football club PAOK - the sister club of Belgrade Partizan.
In the village, we go out with a group of volunteers and locals. Everyone quickly minds their own business. We try to compare the picture that is offered to us with the maps that we studied before our arrival.
Orientation is actually simple. In relation to the path taken by the bus, it is necessary to go uphill at a right angle. Several taverns and cafes, a boutique and a small supermarket, tell us that the place where we left is the center of the village. But it's not like that. It's a traffic center. And the historical center is climbed by steep alleys that are decorated on both sides with truly colorful houses.
It's already hot. We have to look for that "sacred shade", if after a century it is still there. There is no one on the steep alleys. But well-maintained houses with flowers on the windows, shady porches and lots of cute details tell that people live here who love their place and take care of it.
The ascent along the stream channel is slow. Not because of the steepness, but because of the abundance of lovely houses on both sides. We constantly stop and admire. Some houses have yards with fruit trees, others have painted facades. Experts say that it is a Macedonian-Thracian style with a stone first floor, wooden balconies.
Source of love
Soon we come to the spring itself, which is located under the mighty plane trees. At first glance, I understand why drinking water, especially on the Mediterranean islands, is a real treasure.
First, we wash ourselves well with that clear, cold liquid. Then we drink from clenched fists. Locals say that anyone who drinks water from the Three Springs - they also call the spring the Spring of Love - will come back to Panagia.
I heard a similar thing a few decades ago about the water from the Baščarš fountain near the Bey Mosque in Sarajevo. Judging by the number of my returns to Sarajevo, I still have a lot of meetings with the Panagia platoon ahead of me. I remembered ancient Smyrna in today's Izmir. And the water there, bubbling in the middle of the ancient walls, calls me to return, just like the Spring of Buena or the playful water in the Alhambra.
Church near the holy shade
It is logical that in a place called Panagia - in Greek it means all-holy or most holy and refers to the Mother of God - the church should be dedicated to Mary. It was built in 1832 above the spring. I remember that the Austrian travel writer Prokeš marked the surroundings of the spring as "a place for prayer and rest, shrouded in holy shade". His words seemed to predict the building of the church.
At the entrance to the beautifully landscaped yard, in the shade under the small wall that separates the church from the cemetery, sits an old woman. She greets us kindly, but her eyes remain sad, as if they were staring at the dimension to which her dead moved, when they were buried there on the slope, under some of the marble monuments.
In the church itself, the iconostasis made by skilled woodcarving hands catches the eye. The church also keeps the crusader flag of Richard the Lionheart.
They say that on the day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in August, the widely famous icon of the Virgin is taken out of the church. Believers flocked from all over the island, but also from the Greek mainland to the great national assembly.
Bridge of love
If we had time, we would head above the village, to the mountain paths which, as they say, are ideal for walking. This is how we go back down. Next to the church is a ceramics workshop and shop with rare beautiful dishes and jewelry. Something like this is hard to find even in the capital of the island, Limenas.
We return to the source in a moment, drink water again and sit on a bench to enjoy the view. In front of us is the Bridge of Love, actually a bridge over the stream, near the spring.
I don't know if it's due to the healing properties of the water, which restores the whole person, as the locals say, to the hypnotic sound of the spring or to the fact that the influx of tourists hasn't started yet - their gushing would break the spell - but we're fine here.
Utopian panorama
It is with a heavy heart that we leave that place, near which is the enchanting hotel garden under the plane trees. We go down another alley to the place where we got off the bus. A few taverns by the fountain and the Olive Museum, around which the entire children's excursion revolved, are not attractive to us at the moment. We leave for the restaurant Utopia, which is located at the beginning of the road to Golden Beach, four kilometers away. The restaurant is open from noon. We are at the door at one minute past twelve.
We decided to just eat something and have a drink, so that later we would sit down in the tavern. We are the only guests. The terrace offers the most beautiful view of Thassos. Behind the green funnel of slopes and cliffs you can see the turquoise sea.
Homemade tsipuro - actually good komovica - keeps us company with some ice and cold mountain water. We made a carpaccio to remember. And we enjoyed ourselves on the terrace, which must have been built for some Olympian gods, only we managed to find this place by sheer chance and the cunning of the continentals.
A fountain in a tree
Due to the abundance of water and favorable climate, both Mediterranean and continental crops are grown in the village - figs, vines, pomegranates, olives, but also cherries, walnuts, mulberries, blackberries. There is, of course, the famous honey from Thassos. I think I'd probably rather live here than on the nearby coast. Some foreigner with deep pockets has already come up with that idea, the population is growing. The small international community of people who have bought houses here are just as involved in maintaining the village as the natives.
On the way back from the restaurant to the center, we stop by a huge tree in the hollow of which a fountain is built. Such a thing is rarely seen.
The more we get to know the village, the more we admire it. It was first mentioned in the 14th century. It was founded by refugees from the coast, from the town of Limenas. In uncertain times, when the island passed from hand to hand, no powerful force protected it. This was used by pirates - Catalan, Genoese, Venetian, Lombard, Norman, Macedonian, Ottoman. They looted and burned coastal towns.
The islanders sought refuge in the hills. That's how Panagia was born. During the Ottoman rule, the village was the administrative center of the island for several centuries, and after liberation for a while - the capital. Perhaps the locals' awareness of its former importance contributed to the flourishing of the village, so it remains more beautiful than other hill settlements. And unusual in many ways.
Crevca and Cavafy
Behind the parking lot we see a monument that does not shine with an artistic form. I go over and decipher the words in Greek. I recognize the word "Thermopiles" and the name of the author - Constantine Quafi, one of the greatest Greek poets. I remember reading that poem in translation when I was a student in Sarajevo:
Glory to those who are in your life
obliged to defend their Thermopylae.
Never leaving duty.
Apart from me, no one approaches the monument, where there is no English translation of Cavafy's verses, as in other places in Greece. This is an internal Greek story.
However, the village derives the largest part of its income from so-called flat-rate tourism. Although it is not the full season, we can already see what it means in the afternoon. Buses are constantly bringing visitors from the seaside resorts. The gardens are full. This morning's deserted idyll turns into an anthill.
We also hear our language. We just don't understand what anyone says, because everyone at the tables is talking at the same time.
Apparently guests from Serbia are especially valued here, otherwise there wouldn't be a sign at the entrance to the tavern offering what people come here for - lamb and kid.
It is convenient that the tavern is ten meters from the bus stop. While waiting for the bus that will take us back to Limenas, we ordered half a liter of white wine and one portion of a dish that we enjoyed throughout the former Hellenic Mediterranean, from Thessaloniki, through Constantinople to Smyrna - kokoreci. Grilled lamb intestines and offal. It is interesting that some linguists associate this word, which Turks pronounce as kokoreč, with the Slavic word - kukuruz. Since the origin of the word for dish is not unequivocally clarified, here the imagination can do anything.
From the bus, I take one more look at the monument and the reflection of the setting sun on the Thracian Sea. I know what these people were trying to say. In Panagia they defended their Thermopylae.
And I? I carry my Thermopylae deep inside me. I am grateful to Cavafy, Utopia, intestines, cypress, Source of love and holy shade for that knowledge. The only thing I couldn't find was where all those huge snails were because of which Anton Prokeš couldn't sleep here a century ago. It is possible that they only come down to the village at night.
Bonus video:
