Unlike many who visit Athos, my trip was not planned months or years in advance, but instead came about when a friend invited me to join him on pilgrimage there. How often does one get the opportunity to visit a storied millennium-old monastic republic? I decided to take him up on the offer. And so it was that I made my way via Thessaloniki to Ouranoupolis (“Sky City” or “Heavenopolis”) where we picked up our “Diamonitirion” entry permits which allowed us to take the ferry from the last secular town before the monastic border.