Friday, February 27, 2009

Bells, Bells, and More Bells!

Greece is full of little tiny roadside church-booths, big huge cathedrals, and regular, everyday-sized churches. Everywhere we went there seemed to be a church just around the corner. This was a big change, coming from Turkey, where there is a mosque on every corner (well, not quite, but really close!). Some local that we talked to in Santorini said that the prolific number of churches is due to the tax benefits: build a church on your land, and you can build a giant hotel tax free.
Whatever the reason, my favorite part about all these churches is that they all have bells, and all those bells toll regularly. That sounds ominous, let me rephrase. They sing constantly!! The ringing of bells is a sound that I didn't realize I missed until I heard them again. Such a beautiful, joyful noise! I have no problem with the calls to prayer in Turkey, I think of them as the soundtrack to my life here in Antalya actually, but it was really nice to hear bells chiming instead.

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