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. The obscurity may appear
strange, as the balconies were on the outside, but the eaves of the roof
at an angle of about 48 degrees projected some feet as a protection from
the winter's snow, and occasioned a darkness added to the gloom of
blueish grey gneiss which formed the walls and the deep brownish red of
the tiled roof.
The great walnut-tree overshadowed a portion of the mule stables that
formed a continuation of the building, and faced the exterior courtyard,
which was inclosed upon two sides of the square, in the centre of which
was an arched entrance to the inner court.
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