HIKING

The natural beauty and spiritual ambience of Mount Athos provides the perfect opportunity for those pilgrims seeking to combine their tour of monastic life with hiking. With our thorough knowledge of the many hiking paths throughout Athos we will guide you to sites providing breathtaking views of the Aegean Sea and the monasteries that rise up from the peninsula’s rocky shores.

MONASTERIES

We arrange tours to any of the monasteries sites below depending on the selected monasteries’ ability to accommodate our tour at the time of reservation.

The Holy  Monastery of Great Lavra . It is located on the southeastern foot of the Mount at an elevation of 160 meters. The founding of the monastery in AD 963 by Athanasius the Athonite marks the beginning of the organized monastic life at Mount Athos.

The building project, according to the biography of Athanasius the Athonite (11th century), began with the protective wall and continued to the church and cells. After Athanasius’ death, the monastery continued its operation normally. The emperors favored its development and during the 11th century there were 700 monks, Art treasures The library of the monastery is located behind the main church. It contains 2,116 Greek manuscripts and 165 codices. Among them uncial manuscripts of the New Testament: Codex Coislinianus, Codex Athous Lavrensis, Uncial 049, Uncial 0167, and minuscule 1073, 1505, 2524, 1519. There are also over 20,000 printed books, and about 100 manuscripts in other languages. The collection is one of the richest collections of Greek manuscripts in the world.The vestry is behind the main church. Some of the most important artifacts are a manuscript of a gospel with a golden cover which is a gift from Nikephoros II Phokas and the list (Kouvaras) of the monks since Athanasius. There are also 2,500 icons which cover the whole history of hagiography of the second millennium.

The Holy and Great Monastery of Vatopedi is an Eastern Orthodox monastery in the monastic state of Mount Athos in northern Greece. was built during the second half of the 10th century. The Monastery of Vatopedi holds the Cincture of the Theotokos  which she wore on earth and gave to Thomas the Apostle after her death and during her transition to heaven. St. John Chrysostom is kept in the Monastery and is credited by Eastern Orthodox Christians with miraculous healings. The monastery also contains the Iaspis, a chalice fashioned of a single piece of the precious stone jasper, and numerous icons. The library holds 2,000 manuscripts and 35,000 printed books.

The Holy Monastery of Iviron or Iveron:The monastery was built under the supervision of two Georgian monks, John the Iberian and Tornike Eristavi between 980-983 and housed Georgian clergy and priests.[1] Iveron literally means “of the Iberians” in Greek. The name Iviron originated from the ancient Georgian Kingdom of Iberia (Iveria) where the master architect of the monastery Ioannes was from.The monastery ranks third[clarification needed] in the hierarchy of the Athonite monasteries. The monastery library contains 2,000 manuscripts, 15 liturgical scrolls, and 20,000 books in Georgian, Greek, Hebrew, and Latin.The monastery has the relics of more canonized saints than any other on Mount Athos. The Panagia Portaitissa, a famous 9th century icon, is also located at Iviron.The monastery has about 30 working monks and novices, none of whom are Georgian. However, there are forty or so Georgian hermits living in hermitages near the monastery.

The Holy Monastery of Hilandar: The monastery was founded in 1198 when, prompted by the Mount Athos monastic community, Byzantine Emperor Alexios III Angelos(1195–1203) issued a golden sealed chrysobulls donating the ancient monastery Helandaris, “to the Serbs as an eternal gift…,” thereby designating it, “to serve the purpose of accepting the people of Serbian descent, who seek to pursue the monastic way of life, as monasteries belonging to Iberia and Amalfi endure on the Mount, exempt from any authority, including the authority of Protos.Hilandar was thereby handed over to Saint Sava and Saint Symeon with the purpose of establishing and endowing new monastery, which was elevated to the imperial rank. Since then, the monastery became a cornerstone of religious, educational and cultural life of Serbian people.

The Holy Monastery of Dionysiou:  Is an Eastern Orthodox monastery at the monastic state of Mount Athos in Greece in southwest part of Athos peninsula. The monastery ranks fifth in the hierarchy of the Athonite monasteries. It is one of the twenty self-governing monasteries in Athos, and it was dedicated to John the Baptist.The monastery was founded in the 14th century by Saint Denys de Korisos, and it was named after him. The architect decided to build the monastery in Byzantinian style. By the end of the 15h century according to the Russian pilgrim Isaiah, the monastery was Serb.The library of the monastery housed 804 manuscripts, and more than 4,000 printed books. The oldest manuscripts came from the 11th century.Today the monastery has a community of around 50 monks.

• Great Lavra
• Vatopedi
• Saint Paul
• Dionysiou
• Grigoriou
• Xenophontos
• Iviron
• Filotheou
• Karakalou
• Koutloumousiou
• Simonos Petras