Across the azure waters of the Saronic Gulf just south of Athens, only forty minutes by high-speed hydrofoil from the port of Piraeus, the island of Aegina has been celebrated since antiquity for its pistachio orchards, its classical Doric Temple of Aphaia, and its neoclassical harbor town that briefly served as the first capital of modern Greece between 1828 and 1829. Yet for millions of Eastern Orthodox Christians from Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Russia, the Middle East, and the global diaspora, the name of Aegina evokes above all a presence of maternal tenderness and miraculous consolation: Saint Nektarios of Pentapolis, the great Wonderworker of the twentieth century. Every day throughout the year, as ferries dock at Aegina Town, streams of pilgrims travel six kilometers inland along the road through the valley of Kontos (Xantos), where beneath the rugged medieval hill of Paliachora rises the monumental domed Basilica of Saint Nektarios and, higher up on the pine-clad slope, the tranquil whitewashed walls of the Holy Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity (Iera Moni Agias Triados).
What makes the Monastery of Saint Nektarios on Aegina uniquely intimate among the great sanctuaries of Christendom is its closeness to our own historical time. Elderly islanders on Aegina grew up hearing firsthand accounts from their parents and grandparents of the gentle, white-bearded metropolitan bishop in a worn cassock who carried stones alongside masons, dug ditches in the convent garden, cobbled leather shoes with his own hands for his blind and impoverished nuns, and heard confessions with tears of compassion. The life of Saint Nektarios (born Anastasios Kefalas in 1846 in Selymbria in Eastern Thrace, and reposed on the night of November 8 to 9, 1920, in a charity ward at Aretaieion Hospital in Athens) reads as a living embodiment of the Pauline Hymn to Love: falsely accused by jealous colleagues and expelled without trial from the Patriarchate of Alexandria in 1890 without uttering a single word in self-defense, reduced to destitution on the streets of Athens before serving for fourteen years (1894 to 1908) as the beloved Director of the Rizarios Ecclesiastical School, and spending his final twelve years in prayerful retirement on Aegina. The sanctuary where he endured slander even unto death has become a world-renowned wellspring of grace for those suffering from cancer, incurable diseases, and unjust persecution.
ISaint Nektarios of Pentapolis: From Slandered Metropolitan to Twentieth-Century Wonderworker
The spiritual heart of the entire monastic sanctuary on Aegina is Saint Nektarios of Pentapolis (Agios Nektarios Pentapoleos, 1846 to 1920), venerated across Eastern Orthodoxy as a great Wonderworker (Thaumatourgos) and a luminous master of Hesychast unceasing prayer in the modern world. Born on October 1, 1846, to a poor but devout family in Selymbria (modern Silivri) on the northern shore of the Sea of Marmara in Eastern Thrace, the young Anastasios Kefalas traveled alone at the age of fourteen to Constantinople, where he worked grueling hours in a tobacco factory while studying the Church Fathers by candlelight. A beloved episode from his youth reveals the childlike purity of his faith: lacking warm clothes, shoes, and even money for postage stamps to write home, the teenage boy addressed a letter simply to The Lord Jesus Christ in Heaven and asked a neighbor to mail it; moved to tears after opening the envelope, the merchant anonymously sent the boy money, clothing, and books so he could continue his education.
At the age of twenty in 1866, Anastasios moved to the island of Chios, where he taught school in the village of Lithi for seven years before entering monastic life on November 7, 1876, at the historic eleventh-century Monastery of Nea Moni on Chios under the monastic name Lazaros. Ordained a deacon in 1877 with the name Nektarios, he was sponsored by a pious benefactor from Chios and by Patriarch Sophronios IV of Alexandria to study at the School of Theology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, graduating in 1885. Returning to Egypt to serve the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, he was ordained a presbyter at the Church of Saint Sabbas in Alexandria in 1886 and, in January 1889, was consecrated Metropolitan of Pentapolis (corresponding to ancient Cyrenaica in Libya) and appointed Patriarchal Vicar in Cairo.
At the very summit of his ecclesiastical service in Egypt, the defining crucible of his life descended upon him. Because his ascetic holiness, eloquent preaching, and habit of distributing his entire episcopal stipend to the poor endeared him immensely to the Orthodox faithful and even the Catholic and Muslim inhabitants of Cairo, a faction of envious clergy within the Patriarchal court conspired against him. They whispered to the aging Patriarch Sophronios IV that Metropolitan Nektarios was currying popular favor to depose him and seize the Patriarchal throne of Alexandria, adding fabricated moral slanders to destroy his reputation. Rather than organizing a faction to defend his honor or demanding a canonical tribunal that would have divided the Church in Egypt, Metropolitan Nektarios chose the silent meekness of Christ before Pilate. In May 1890, he was summarily relieved of his duties and ordered to leave Egypt without ever being granted a hearing.
Arriving in Athens penniless and branded as a disgraced hierarch expelled from Alexandria, Nektarios endured months of extreme poverty and rejection by civil and ecclesiastical ministries, unable even to pay the rent on a humble room. Only in 1891 was he granted a modest post as a provincial preacher in Euboea (Evia). Although the townspeople initially greeted him with suspicion due to the rumors that had preceded him, his tearful sermons, tireless care for the sick, and radiant humility soon won their profound veneration.
In 1894, Metropolitan Nektarios was appointed Director of the prestigious Rizarios Ecclesiastical School (Rizareios Ekklisiastiki Scholi) in Athens, not far from the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Annunciation. Over the next fourteen years (1894 to 1908), he transformed the seminary into a beacon of spiritual and intellectual renewal, authoring more than thirty theological treatises, church histories, ethical manuals, and collections of liturgical poetry, including the world-famous Marian hymn Agni Parthene Despoina (O Virgin Pure, Immaculate Lady). Whenever the school janitor Leukippos fell gravely ill, the Metropolitan Director secretly rose at four o'clock in the morning to scrub the school toilets and sweep the corridors with his own hands before the students awoke so that the poor worker would not lose his job; and whenever a student committed a serious offense, the bishop imposed a multi-day fast upon himself rather than expelling the boy, declaring that a teacher's own lack of holiness was the cause of his pupils' failings.
His personal experience of unjust slander, institutional exile, and acute physical agony from prostate cancer at the end of his life has made Saint Nektarios the universally beloved patron saint of cancer patients, impoverished workers, and all who suffer false accusation. He counseled his nuns on Aegina with words born of his own tears: When people slander you, do not let your heart be troubled or poisoned by bitterness; entrust your cause in silence to God, Who beholds the secret depths of every human heart and justifies the innocent in His own due season.
IIThe Founding of the Holy Trinity Convent in 1904, Thirty Years of Bodily Incorruption, and the Apology of 1998
The providential bond between Saint Nektarios and the island of Aegina began at the turn of the twentieth century, when a small group of pious young women in Athens who sought his spiritual guidance, including a blind young woman of extraordinary interior prayer named Xenia (later Abbess Xenia), expressed their desire to embrace the cenobitic monastic life. Seeking a quiet refuge away from the bustle of the capital yet close enough to visit by steamer from Piraeus, Metropolitan Nektarios traveled to Aegina in 1904 and discovered the deserted ruins of a small medieval Byzantine monastery dedicated to the Life-Giving Spring (Zoodochos Pigi) in the inland valley of Xantos (Kontos), directly beneath the deserted medieval hilltop town of Paliachora where the ninth-century Saint Athanasia of Aegina had once lived in asceticism.
In March 1908, at the age of sixty-two, Saint Nektarios resigned as Director of the Rizarios School and moved permanently to a tiny cottage just outside the walls of the Holy Trinity Convent (Moni Agias Triados) on Aegina. Here, for the final twelve years of his earthly life (1908 to 1920), the elderly hierarch hauled stones, mixed mortar, dug cisterns, tended the vegetable gardens, cobbled leather shoes for the sisters, wrote theological books, and prayed for the sick and drought-stricken island. Even in retirement, he endured painful slander from hostile local officials who subjected the convent to unannounced police searches, while ecclesiastical authorities delayed official recognition of his monastic foundation until after his repose.
- 1904Purchase of the Zoodochos Pigi ruins and founding of the Holy Trinity ConventUsing his meager savings from the Rizarios School and donations from spiritual children, Metropolitan Nektarios purchases the ruined Byzantine monastery in the Xantos valley on Aegina, dedicating the convent to the Most Holy Trinity (Agia Triada) and settling the first sisterhood.
- 1908 to 1920Twelve years of residence, manual labor, and spiritual guidance on AeginaRetiring from the Rizarios School in March 1908, Saint Nektarios lives in a modest cottage beside the convent, working with his own hands as mason, gardener, and cobbler while composing theological works and healing the sick through prayer.
- Night of November 8 to 9, 1920Repose at Aretaieion Hospital in Athens and the miracle of the undershirtAfter enduring nearly two years of painful prostate cancer, Saint Nektarios passes away on the night of November 8 to 9, 1920, in a charity ward for the poor at Aretaieion Hospital in Athens. When nurses place his woolen undershirt upon the neighboring bed of a paralyzed patient, the paralytic immediately rises and walks completely healed.
- 1921 to September 3, 1953Over three decades of miraculous bodily incorruption and the Translation of RelicsWhenever the Saint's grave beneath the pine tree on Aegina is opened over the next twenty-plus years, his body is found completely whole, supple, and exuding heavenly myrrh. Following the natural dissolution of the body so relics could be shared worldwide, the solemn Translation of his Holy Relics is celebrated on September 2 to 3, 1953.
- April 20, 1961Official Canonization by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of ConstantinopleUnder Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I, the Holy Synod of Constantinople issues the Patriarchal and Synodal Act formally enrolling Saint Nektarios of Pentapolis in the canon of Saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
- 1973 to 1998Construction of the Great Lower Basilica (1973 - 1994) and Alexandria's formal apology (1998)To receive millions of pilgrims, the monumental Basilica of Saint Nektarios at the foot of the hill is built from December 1973 to May 1994; on September 15, 1998, Patriarch Petros VII and the Holy Synod of Alexandria issue a formal synodal act asking forgiveness of Saint Nektarios for his unjust expulsion in 1890.
The historic Synodal Act of Rehabilitation and Apology by the Patriarchate of Alexandria in 1998. One of the most moving moments in modern Christian history took place on September 15, 1998, in Alexandria, Egypt. Exactly 108 years after Metropolitan Nektarios had been unjustly suspended and expelled from Egypt without trial, Patriarch Petros VII and the Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa signed a solemn Synodal Decision addressed directly to Saint Nektarios in heaven.
In this extraordinary document, the Patriarchate of Alexandria publicly begged the forgiveness of Saint Nektarios for the injustice committed against him by its predecessors in 1890 out of human weakness and jealousy, restoring his full canonical honor in the annals of the Throne of Saint Mark. The outcast bishop who had departed Egypt without a coin in his pocket had become the most universally venerated saint of twentieth-century Orthodoxy.
IIITwo-Tiered Architecture of the Aegina Sanctuary: From the Marble Tomb Beneath the Pine to the Colossal Dome
The architectural ensemble of the Monastery of Saint Nektarios on Aegina unfolds across two distinct vertical levels, creating a profound spiritual dialogue between the monumental scale of universal public veneration in the valley below and the intimate, silent poverty of monastic life on the hillside above. As pilgrims arrive at Kontos some six kilometers east of Aegina Town, the first structure that commands the valley floor is the immense Basilica of Saint Nektarios (Megas Naos Agiou Nektariou), constructed between December 1973 and May 1994. Designed in a grand Neo-Byzantine domed basilica style inspired by Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, the lower church covers more than one thousand square meters and is crowned by a colossal central dome supported by cascading half-domes and corner towers, ranking among the largest Orthodox churches in all of Greece.
Leaving the monumental basilica at the foot of the hill, pilgrims ascend a gently winding stone-paved pathway shaded by cypresses, pines, and olive trees to reach the original Holy Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity (Moni Agias Triados) perched on the upper hillside. Passing through the modest arched gate of the convent, one enters a world of serene Aegean island simplicity: whitewashed monastic cells, quiet flagstone courtyards vibrant with purple bougainvillea and red geraniums in terracotta pots, and soft-spoken nuns in black habits who guide visitors to the Chapel of the Tomb of Saint Nektarios beneath the pine tree, the Chapel of the Holy Skull, and the preserved two-room cottage of the Saint.
One of the largest domed churches in Greece, spanning over 1,000 square meters to accommodate thousands of pilgrims; on the right side of the nave beneath a carved marble ciborium rests the ornate silver reliquary chest containing the relics and right hand of Saint Nektarios.
Located on the upper hillside beside the tall pine tree planted by the Saint himself, this intimate chapel houses the white marble cenotaph tomb where his incorrupt body rested from 1920 to 1953; here pilgrims kneel and press an ear against the stone slab to hear the gentle tapping of his staff.
The small twin-aisled convent church adjacent to the tomb chapel: its main altar is dedicated to the Most Holy Trinity, while its southern chapel dedicated to Saint Nektarios enshrines the silver reliquary containing his fragrant Holy Skull (Timia Kara).
Standing just outside the upper convent gate, the humble one-story dwelling preserves the Saint's narrow iron bedstead where he endured terminal cancer, his wooden writing desk, bookshelves, episcopal vestments, cobbler's tools, and handmade leather shoes.
Drawing from the ancient water vein of the Byzantine Zoodochos Pigi Monastery, the holy water of the convent and blessed olive oil from the sleepless vigil lamps burning perpetually over the Saint's relics are given to pilgrims to anoint the sick.
Rising directly above the convent to the north is the deserted medieval island capital of Paliachora (the Island Mystras of Aegina), preserving more than thirty stone churches from the thirteenth to seventeenth centuries adorned with frescoes.
| Architectural Element & Sacred Relic | Location & Date | Spatial Form & Liturgical Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Great Basilica of Saint Nektarios (Megas Naos) | Valley floor at Kontos (Built 1973 to 1994) | Colossal Neo-Byzantine domed basilica housing the large silver reliquary chest and right hand of Saint Nektarios |
| Holy Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity (Moni Agias Triados) | Upper hillside (Founded in 1904) | Traditional whitewashed Aegean women's convent built upon the ruins of the Byzantine Zoodochos Pigi Monastery |
| Chapel of the White Marble Tomb | Upper convent courtyard (Burial site from 1920 to 1953) | Original marble tomb beneath the Saint's pine tree where pilgrims press their ears to the stone in silent petition |
| Chapel of the Holy Skull (Timia Kara) | South aisle of the upper convent church (Enshrined 1953) | Houses the embossed silver reliquary containing the fragrant Holy Skull of Saint Nektarios |
| Humble Residence of Saint Nektarios | Outside upper convent gate (1908 to 1920) | Two-room cottage preserving his iron bed, desk, manuscripts, cobbler's last, and personal photographs |
| Medieval Hill of Paliachora | Northern crag above the convent (9th to 19th centuries) | Historic inland refuge associated with Saint Athanasia of Aegina, featuring over 30 frescoed stone chapels |
IVSacred Geography and Orientation
Within Eastern Orthodox monastic tradition, Saint Nektarios's choice of the Xantos valley in 1904 was guided by the search for interior hesychast stillness away from coastal ports and by the spiritual continuity of the medieval Zoodochos Pigi Monastery, combined with the canonical rule of eastward altar orientation. The following section examines the mountain and valley setting of the Aegina sanctuary through the comparative lens of traditional landscape geomancy in the Hall of Myriad Paths.
Viewed across the macro-topography of Aegina Island (a triangular volcanic and limestone island positioned at the exact center of the Saronic Gulf between Attica, the Isthmus of Corinth, and the Peloponnese) at coordinates 37.7475° N, 23.4839° E, the Monastery of Saint Nektarios occupies the most sheltered inland energetic basin on the island. Unlike the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Tinos, which faces an open Aegean harbor, the Monastery of Saint Nektarios retreats six kilometers inland into the enclosed valley of Kontos (Xantos), encircled by hills that shield the sanctuary from maritime winds and gather contemplative stillness.
Rising steeply to the north and northeast directly behind the convent as its protective backing mountain (the Black Tortoise guardian peak) is the rugged crag of Paliachora, known as the "Island Mystras" of Aegina in direct parallel to the Byzantine Monasteries of Mystras. For a thousand years, islanders retreating from corsair raids built hundreds of stone chapels across Paliachora's slopes. The spiritual energy accumulated across that mountain of prayer flows downward to its southern foot, where a perennial underground spring fed the Byzantine monastery of Zoodochos Pigi (the Life-Giving Spring). Directly south of the hilltop convent, the fertile floor of the Kontos valley opens out as a serene inner courtyard (Bright Hall) carpeted with Aleppo pines, cypresses, olive groves, and pistachio orchards, while the colossal domed Basilica of Saint Nektarios on the valley floor anchors the threshold of the basin, receiving pilgrims arriving from Aegina Town in the west and the Temple of Aphaia in the east.
VThe Great Feast of November 9, the September 3 Translation of Relics, and Listening at the Marble Tomb
Liturgical life at the Monastery of Saint Nektarios on Aegina is sustained daily by the cenobitic sisterhood of Orthodox nuns living according to the monastic constitution drafted by Saint Nektarios himself. Every morning before dawn breaks over the Saronic Gulf, the rhythmic striking of the wooden talanton echoes across the pine-covered hillside, summoning the nuns to the Midnight Office, Matins, and the Divine Liturgy in accordance with Eastern Orthodox liturgical practice, where the sisters chant the beloved Marian hymn Agni Parthene Despoina composed by their saintly founder.
| Date | Calendar System | Feast & Liturgical Commemoration | Pilgrimage Customs & Liturgical Observances on Aegina |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 9 annually (Vigil from November 8 afternoon) | Revised Julian Calendar (Church of Greece) | Great Feast of the Dormition of Saint Nektarios of Pentapolis | Supreme annual feast of Aegina: an All-Night Vigil (Agrypnia) is chanted on November 8 to 9 in both the hilltop convent and the lower Basilica; following the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy on November 9, the Holy Skull of Saint Nektarios is carried in a grand 6-km procession to Aegina Town harbor amid church bells, military bands, and saluting ship sirens. |
| September 3 annually | Revised Julian Calendar (Church of Greece) | Feast of the Translation of the Holy Relics of Saint Nektarios (1953) | Commemorates the solemn enshrining of the Saint's fragrant relics on September 3, 1953, after more than thirty years of bodily incorruption; draws thousands of families and healed patients returning to offer pure olive oil and silver votive tamata. |
| Monday after Pentecost (May or June) | Eastern Orthodox Paschal Cycle | Feast of the Holy Spirit (Patronal Feast of the Most Holy Trinity Convent) | Original patronal feast of the Holy Trinity Convent (Agia Triada) founded by Saint Nektarios in 1904, celebrated with Festal Divine Liturgy and the Kneeling Vespers prayers of Pentecost. |
| Daily throughout the year | Year-round Pilgrimage Custom | Pressing one's ear to the White Marble Tomb and receiving Blessed Oil from the Sleepless Lamp | Pilgrims kneel beside the original white marble tomb beneath the pine tree to press an ear against the stone slab in silent prayer, venerate the Holy Skull and relics, and receive blessed oil from the sleepless vigil lamp (akoimitos kandila) to anoint cancer patients. |
The gentle tapping from within the white marble tomb beneath the pine tree. Among all the great pilgrimage shrines of the Christian world, few devotional gestures are as tender and immediate as the scene inside the small Tomb Chapel of Saint Nektarios on the hillside of Aegina. Beneath the soft glow of hanging silver oil lamps, elderly islanders, young children, weeping mothers praying for sick children, and physicians alike kneel beside the white marble cenotaph, gently press one ear flat against the cool stone slab, and close their eyes in complete silence. For over a hundred years, countless pilgrims have testified with tears of gratitude that they heard a soft, rhythmic tapping sound rising from deep within the marble, like the wooden walking staff of the elderly bishop or the steady beat of a living heart, reassuring them that Saint Nektarios hears their prayers.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Kontos (Xantos) Valley, Aegina - Agia Marina Road, 180 10 Aegina Island, Saronic Islands, Attica, Greece
- Getting there
- The Monastery of Saint Nektarios is located in the inland valley of Kontos (Xantos) near the center of Aegina Island, approximately 6 kilometers east of Aegina Town port. From Athens, travelers take the metro (Line 1 Green or Line 3 Blue) or a taxi to the Port of Piraeus (Gate E8 for Saronic Gulf islands) and board either a high-speed hydrofoil (Flying Dolphin or Aero, taking 40 minutes) or a conventional car ferry (taking about 70 minutes) to Aegina Town. From Aegina harbor, municipal buses (on the Aegina to Agia Marina route, stopping directly outside the Basilica of Saint Nektarios), taxis, or rental cars reach the monastery in 10 to 15 minutes.
- Coordinates
- 37.7469, 23.4892
The Holy Trinity Convent and the Basilica of Saint Nektarios on Aegina are open daily free of charge from early morning (around 6:00 AM) until early evening (around 7:30 PM in summer and 5:30 PM in winter). Because this is an active Orthodox women's monastery, strict monastic dress codes are enforced at the entrance gate: men must wear long trousers and shirts with sleeves, while women must wear a long skirt extending below the knees (trousers, jeans, and shorts are not permitted for women) and tops covering the shoulders; wrap-around skirts and shawls are provided free of charge at the gate for visitors. Complete silence and turned-off mobile phones are required inside the Tomb Chapel and the Saint's residence.
Nearby places in the library
VIIContribute To This Page
Contribute photos, information or video for Monastery of Saint Nektarios, Aegina
Master Ưng Khiêm welcomes the community to enrich this page: a photograph taken on site, a historical detail not yet noted, or a short video. Every contribution is read and answered.
No community contribution yet. You could be the first.
?Quick Questions
Why is Saint Nektarios of Pentapolis especially venerated as the patron saint of cancer patients and the falsely accused?
Throughout his earthly life, Saint Nektarios (1846 to 1920) bore cruel false accusations and unjust expulsion from the Patriarchate of Alexandria in 1890 without bitterness or self-justification, and during his final two years he personally suffered acute physical agony from prostate cancer, passing away in a charity hospital ward for the poor in Athens. Immediately upon his repose on November 8 to 9, 1920, his undershirt healed a paralyzed patient in the neighboring hospital bed, and ever since, thousands of documented healings of cancer and terminal illnesses have been attributed to his intercession and to anointing with oil from the vigil lamps above his relics.
What is the meaning of the custom in which pilgrims press their ears against the white marble tomb of Saint Nektarios?
Inside the small tomb chapel at the hilltop Holy Trinity Convent stands the original white marble tomb where the incorrupt body of Saint Nektarios rested from 1920 until 1953. Pilgrims kneel beside the tomb and press an ear directly against the marble slab in silence. According to a century-old living tradition among Orthodox believers, many faithful hear a gentle tapping sound resembling an elderly bishop's walking stick, footsteps, or a rhythmic heartbeat coming from within the stone, cherished as a spiritual sign that the Saint is alive in Christ and listening to their petitions.
What is the difference between the monumental church at the foot of the hill and the convent on the hillside above?
The pilgrimage complex consists of two connected levels: at the foot of the hill stands the monumental Basilica of Saint Nektarios, built between 1973 and 1994 with one of the largest Neo-Byzantine church domes in Greece to accommodate tens of thousands of pilgrims and housing the large silver reliquary containing the Saint's relics and right hand; higher up on the pine-shaded hillside stands the original Holy Trinity Convent founded by Saint Nektarios in 1904, which contains his original white marble tomb chapel, the small convent church enshrining his Holy Skull, and his preserved two-room cottage with his iron bed, writing desk, and handmade shoes.
What was the significance of the 1998 apology issued by the Patriarchate of Alexandria to Saint Nektarios?
On September 15, 1998, exactly 108 years after Metropolitan Nektarios had been unjustly suspended and exiled from Egypt in 1890 without a canonical trial, Patriarch Petros VII and the Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa issued an official synodal act publicly asking forgiveness of Saint Nektarios for the injustice committed against him by their predecessors out of human weakness and envy, formally restoring his full historical honor within the Patriarchate.
What nearby historical and archaeological landmarks on Aegina can be combined with a visit to the Monastery of Saint Nektarios?
Rising directly behind the monastery on the steep crag to the north is the deserted medieval town of Paliachora (known as the Island Mystras of Aegina), where visitors can hike among more than thirty surviving Byzantine and post-Byzantine stone chapels decorated with medieval frescoes. Additionally, about ten minutes further east by road stands the classical Temple of Aphaia (built around 500 BCE), one of the best-preserved Doric temples in the Greek world, which forms the famous sacred triangle of antiquity together with the Parthenon in Athens and the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion.