Mount Athos

Athos occupies the easternmost finger of Halkidiki, a peninsula of about 336 square kilometres rising to a marble pyramid of 2,033 metres at its tip, and it has been a monastic territory for over a thousand years, self-governing within Greece under a charter of Byzantine origin. Twenty ruling monasteries, plus skites and hermitages, hold libraries and treasuries of extraordinary importance: illuminated manuscripts, relics, and the largest collection of Byzantine art in existence. Access is controlled: visitors need a permit issued in limited daily numbers, with separate quotas for Orthodox and non-Orthodox, and by a rule maintained for centuries, women may not enter the peninsula. Those who cannot or do not visit take the boat cruises from Ouranoupoli, which run along the coast a few hundred metres offshore with the monasteries in view.

History

Homer mentions Athos in the Iliad, and Herodotus tells how in 492 BC the Persian fleet of Mardonius lost 300 ships and 20,000 men to a north wind while rounding the peninsula, then called Akte, whose Pelasgian towns he names; Xerxes spent three years cutting a canal across its isthmus for his invasion of 483 BC, and the architect Dinocrates proposed carving the whole mountain into a statue of Alexander the Great. Monks have certainly lived here since the 4th century, and its monastic tradition dates back at least to the 9th, while Athonite tradition holds that the Virgin Mary, blown off course on the way to Cyprus, landed near today's Iviron and blessed the mountain as her garden, out of bounds to all other women. The mountain and most of the peninsula are governed today as an autonomous monastic community under the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, and by Greek law and tradition women may not enter (Wikipedia, Mount Athos).

What to look for

• The coastal monasteries - fortified complexes on cliffs and coves, visible from the sea.
• The peak - the marble summit of Athos at the end of the peninsula.
• The libraries and treasuries - for permitted visitors, Byzantine manuscripts and icons.
• The forest paths - old walking routes linking the monasteries inland.

When to go

Spring and autumn for walking between monasteries; permits are hardest to obtain around major feasts. Boat cruises run daily in season from Ouranoupoli and are weather-dependent.

What to expect

Permits must be arranged weeks ahead through the pilgrims' bureau, numbers are capped daily, and the entry rule excludes women entirely, so most visitors experience Athos only from a boat. Inside, this is a religious community, not a tourist site: dress and behaviour are regulated, photography is restricted, and monasteries follow Byzantine time and fasting rules.

Nearby

Ouranoupoli is the gateway village; Sithonia and the rest of Halkidiki lie west.

Key facts