When Greek Orthodox nun Lidia arrived alone at the deteriorating convent of The Assumption of the Virgin at Sofiko 40 years ago, she did not have the knowledge or the experience to undertake its renovation but knew she was up to the task.
“I have dreamt about this place in detail, so when I first arrived here I knew I had to try to fix it as I envisioned it,” she told New Europe, while walking with a tray of full Greek coffee cups and homemade glyka tou koutaliou, the traditional Greek spoon sweets that she prepared from the fruits of her monastery garden.
Sofiko is a small town in Solygeia, near Corinth, in Greece’s Peloponnese Region. The hills surrounding the town also are lined with pine trees that belong to the Sofiko Forest, one of the area’s major sources for the production of pine resin or pitch.