Eksoklisi church bell

There are over 10,000 Greek Orthodox churches in Greece and this figure doesn't include the characteristic, small roadside shrines that commemorate the loss of a loved one in an accident.

Churches can be found in all shapes and sizes throughout the country: within cities, convents and monasteries, or even as eksoklisia or ksoklisia -- small churches located far from residential areas.

The following picture is taken from one such eksoklisi ("ekso" meaning outside or exterior, "klisi" short for "eklisia" or church) in the hills of Northern Greece.

Mass is held less frequently in eksoklisia, depending on how far away from urban centers they are situated.  Usually, these chapels only open their doors to the public to celebrate the ecclesiastical feast or saint they were built to honor, though ones found just outside towns have regular worshipers on Sundays.

As part of Sunday mass, church bells are tolled thrice. They are also heard before morning mass on weekdays and vespers on Saturday afternoons, and this is by no means the full list. What this implies is that the sound of a church bell is not an uncommon occurrence in Greece.

Personally speaking, I can't imagine the Greek landscape without the sound of a bell tolling once a day. Not hearing it would be as eerie as muting the sound of birds and leaves in a forest. Regardless of your religious beliefs, the sound of a church bell is a testimonial of culture and tradition that imbues a place with color and character, bestowing it its singularity.