SAY the words "Holy Greek Mountain" and most people will say Mount Olympus. But there is another, which is Christian rather than pagan - Mount Athos at the northern edge of the Aegean Sea. It is home to 20 monasteries, all part of the Orthodox Church.

Christopher Merrill went on pilgrimage to the mountain. This is an account of his wanderings around and up the mountain, the people he met and what he was thinking as he did it. It is a view of a world within a world and not of the world, for the Greek Government holds little power on the peninsula that includes the mountain.

This is religious land. Merrill shows it in all its strangeness (to Western Christian eyes) which could make a fascinating book. However, he does it in such a disjointed way that you are presented with a series of still pictures rather than a smooth film.

He also drops in frequent quotations - understandable as he is a poet and literary academic - but this does breaks up the narrative and takes the reader on detours.

Nonetheless, if you are interested in Orthodox Christianity, its practices and monks, this will give some guidance.

Updated: 09:35 Wednesday, April 28, 2004