Dave’s sabbatical

The Pindus mountains in northern Greece are breathtaking and an ideal place for retreat and reflection. Some of this personal work has been painfully challenging and as I ponder the return to life back in the UK I realise that regular retreat needs to be part of that life. Paul Swann's book on 'Sustaining Leadership - You are more important than your ministry' has been a profound challenge. I commend it to anyone in Christian ministry, paid or unpaid! Our final destination in eastern Europe is Albania and we arrived in a hot and humid Tirana, 40.5C according to the car heat sensor! This is one of the most unusual capital cities I've ever visited. This is the famous concrete pyramid in the middle of Tirana, built in the dying days of communism, in tribute to the paranoid and evil dictator, Enver Hoxha. He impoverished and terrorised this country for over forty years. If you enlarge the picture, on the right hand side you can see two boys on their way to the top...

Yes, more monasteries in this extraordinary and geologically unique landscape. This is my new friend Sterrios. We got talking about some of the differences between Christian traditions in a very good natured and warm atmosphere. We covered subjects such as the devotion of kissing icons and as a pastor, why didn't I wear a black robe like be did? We prayed together and later he introduced me to his boss, Prophitis. He was a bundle of laughs, some of which I couldn't quite catch - lost in translation - but we shared our love of the Old Testament together. They both serve in the least popular (for visitors) monastery of St Nicholas, possibly because it has more steps up to it than any other. These were just the last few. For that reason we especially liked it because not many people were there, unlike the one we visited next, the Grand Meteora, which was absolutely heaving. The views on the way up, on either side of St Nicholas, were amazing. And from the top. Wow. ...

I've been singing 'For your eyes only' all afternoon but have only been repaid with some rather strange looks. For those who can remember, the James Bond film (Roger Moore), For your eyes only, concluded on top of this astonishing Holy Trinity rock monastery, one of the amazing meteora of central Greece. The view from the top is stunning. Our little apartment is at the base of the nearest cliff. The Satnav told me we were 600 metres away but that it was going to take 6.3km to get there! We weren't going to do some Roger Moore type rock climbing so we drove, but at 36C it was still a challenge because you have to walk down before you climb up. I can feel a sermon coming on... The wall paintings are typically orthodox and cover every inch of the chapel's walls (no photos allowed, though one visitor showed amazing disrespect by taking photos in spite of being repeatedly asked not to do so). However, in one of the old, no longer used, monk's cells there we...