| monastery and museum |
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Try again Toplou
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Still, these delights consume just enough time so that when I get back to the monastery the old man is there with his keys. These reveal to me the innermost secrets of a little chapel room, to my infidel eyes indistinguishable from any other Greek or Russian orthodox holy place, with its tinsel and silver, except perhaps that it was all much darker than I've otherwise seen ...
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And then he lights a candle to show me very proudly a stone cave about one square metre in size, filled by a 19th-century steel cross and a modern bishop's cloak.
Then other living people turn up, a dutch couple, which catch his attention and give me the opportunity to make my escape before feeling pressured into making a financial donation to the holy work I have been privileged to witness.