A 16th-century working monastery on the south slope of Mt. Penteli — walls built from the same marble that built the Parthenon.
Moní Pentélis (the Monastery of the Assumption of the Virgin) was founded in 1578 on the south slope of Mt. Penteli, just above the Athens suburb of Melissia — a working monastery, with walls and outbuildings built from the same Pentelic marble that Iktinos and Kallikrates used for the Parthenon two thousand years earlier.
About twenty monks live here, following the Athonite rule. The monastery operates daily prayer cycles (Matins at 04:00, Vespers at 16:00) and a public cycle — the Katholikón (the main church, a 16th-century domed cross-in-square, frescoed throughout) is open to visitors 09:00–13:00 and 16:30–19:00. The frescoes are post-Byzantine (mostly 18th century, with some 16th-century work in the dome) and in good condition. The cells and the refectory are closed to the public, but the courtyard, the small museum (icons, vestments, manuscripts), and the small shop (selling honey, wine and beeswax candles produced on the property) are open. The whole visit takes forty-five minutes; the silence is the point. Dress code: long skirts/trousers, covered shoulders. The monastery is reached by a short drive up from the suburb of Melissia (parking at the gate).
A monastery morning.
Half-hour north-east of central Athens; park at the gate.
The frescoes, the marble templon, the small treasury; forty-five minutes.
The wine, honey and beeswax candles produced on the property — small purchases as the day's marker.
Twenty minutes up the slope — the ancient open-cuts; an hour of cinematic landscape; bring a packed lunch.
Picnic lunch at the quarry edge — Athens visible below; quiet; €0.
Half-hour back; coffee at Kifisia on the way home.
Within twenty minutes.
Twenty minutes' drive up the slope — the ancient open-cut marble quarries.
Twenty minutes' drive west — the former royal estate.
Sixteen kilometres south, half-hour by car.
Half-hour south-east — the eleven cellars.
Half-hour south — the east-wall mountain and Kaisariani Monastery.
Tell us a little about the trip you want — pace, who's coming, how you'd like to spend your mornings. We'll build the days.
