Backyard shrines

Once our tour of the convent ended we drove back down the mountainous roads toward Kalambaka. We stopped at an icon factory catering exclusively to big tour groups. After watching a demonstration on how icons can be mass produced, we were then given 45 minutes to wander around in the adjacent souvenir store. I didn't see anything there that was even of the slightest interest to me so I waited outside. Just outside the shop's doorway I saw what I initially suspected was a butterfly flapping around on the ground. As I bent down to examine it I discovered it was a baby bat. I went inside and got one of the employees to come out and help me put the baby bat back up in the rafters above the entrance. That was my good deed of the day. When everyone was done shopping we reboarded the bus to return to the Famissa Hotel. Suddenly Niko was smiling and talking to the people in our group. Niko and Jim Aspros were gabbing away in Greek. Niko even let us take drinks on to the bus. He told Jurgen to tell us eating would be ok as long as we kept the bus clean. Back at the Famissa a few people took naps, some walked up toward the main part of town while I walked in the opposite direction trying to find the Lidl store. Lidl is a chain selling super cheap (some say "crappy") food and booze. It's similar to Aldi. After a ten minute walk I found the Lidl, but it was closed on Sundays. Making a mental note of the 8:00 am opening time I proposed to return the next morning. On my walk back toward the hotel I passed this small lot selling these concrete and stone items. Being a mailman, I originally assumed these were some sort of vandal-proof mailbox, but then deduced that they were designed to shelter icons and candles when used as shrines. In the second row of stuff there are stone outdoor ovens.