The next day we went to see a very, very old Church. It had Icons painted on the walls in the 1100's - almost a thousand years ago - and the colours were still bright and clear! (Icons are a special kind of Christian Religious painting)

It was interesting, because we could see what the Icons back then were like, and how they are different from newer Icons.

Troodos
		Panagia tis Asinou Church - Nikitari (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
		Nikitari village, Tel: 357 22 85 29 22 Daily: 09:00-17:00 (summer) Daily: 09:00-16:00 (winter)
	An early 12th century church dedicated to the Virgin Mary with frescoes of the 12th century and the later periods, considered to be among the finest examples of Byzantine mural painting in the island. Visitors should ask for the priest of Nikitari village to escort them.

I thought this one was the most interesting, because usually in Icons Saints have a golden Halo, and other people don't have any Halo at all. In this one, though, Judas is betraying Jesus, and he has a Halo, but it is dark instead of gold.  

Here are some other ones you might like to see. Can you figure out what they are?

The Church was up in the mountains - here is the view from the front door:

The next day was Christmas Eve, and we went to visit a Monastery. This is one of the many Churches and Monasteries where we weren't allowed to take pictures, so this is just a picture outside

Agios Irakleidios Convent
	by Irakleidios , whom they later consecrated as Bishop of Tamassos. He was martyred and buried in the cave where he had lived and preached. The monastery, founded in 400 AD, was destroyed and rebuilt several times until Archibishop Chrysanthos renovated the church and cells in 1773. The relics of the saint are kept in a silver gilt case. The use of photo and video cameras inside the convent is prohibited.

For Christmas Eve Vespers, we went to Maria's Church. Greek Orthodox Church Services are sometimes very long (Christmas morning services were four hours!) and everybody knows that we kids can't sit still that long without little breaks. A lot of times, families with kids just come late, so that it's not so long. But, at Maria's Church, they have a kid's Chapel, where the Icon screen and everything else is just our size, and there is a loudspeaker so everyone can hear the service. We were allowed to go in there and stay with other kids whenever we felt like it, and then go back with the grown-ups when we felt like it. You can see how big it is in this picture I took of Maria in the kid's Chapel:

That's all for today! Hope you're enjoying reading about our trip!