About Eighty Yards Beyond, By
A Level Path, We Reached The Widest-Spreading Walnut-Tree That I Have
Ever Seen; The New Foliage Was Soft And Uninjured By The Wind, Producing
A Dense Shade Over An Area Sufficient For Numerous Tents.
This
magnificent specimen of vegetation grew upon the edge of an abrupt
descent, perpendicular to a series of gardens,
All terraced out to a
depth of about 150 feet, to the bottom of a narrow gorge; thus one-half
of the branches overhung the steep, while the other half shaded a
portion of the monastery courtyard.
We halted and dismounted beneath this grand old tree, where the
picturesque but not clean old monk, with some of his ecclesiastics, were
ready to meet us with a courteous welcome.
CHAPTER XII.
THE MONASTERY OF TROODITISSA.
The monastery of Trooditissa had no architectural pretensions; it looked
like a family of English barns that had been crossed with a Swiss
chalet. The roofs of six separate buildings of considerable dimensions
were arranged to form a quadrangle, which included the chapel, a long
building at right angles with the quadrangle, which had an upper balcony
beneath the roof, so as to form a covered protection to a similar
arrangement below, and an indescribable building which was used by the
monks as their store for winter provisions. The staircases were outside,
as in Switzerland, and entered upon the open-air landings or balconies;
these were obscure galleries, from which doors led to each separate
apartment, occupied by the monks and fleas.
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