Monastery Paleopanagia near Astros Peloponnisos

Ιερά Μονή Παλαιοπαναγιάς κοντά από το Άστρος


There are many Orthodox monasteries in Greece.  The area that has many monasteries and enjoys autonomous status but allows only men to enter is called Agion Oros aka Mount Athos.

If you are an international tourist looking for a place with religious significance combined with natural landscape beauty, then my suggestion for you is to visit the suspended rocks - Meteora.  As a matter of fact, one of the 007 James Bond movies was filmed in Meteora.

However if you have very limited time, and you happen to be near Nafplio or Mycenae, then you may just want to visit some monastery nearby.  In this case, there are many monasteries in Peloponnisos in the mountain range of Parnonas Πάρνωνας. Parnonas are called by many as the Agion Oros of southern Greece.

The most visited monastery in this region is the Monastery of Malevi or in Greek Ιερά Μονή Παναγίας Μαλεβής, it is between the road from the town of Astros to the village of Agios Petros but close to the latter.  I have visited that monastery a few times, and have taken many pictures but since other people have posted on the internet, I see no urgency to document my photos.

This post is to record the photo images of the Monastery Paleopanagia Ιερά Μονή Παλαιοπαναγιάς about 7km southwest of Astros.  It is not the most visited monastery in the region by Greeks themselves.  I took a brief look on the internet and found just a video about this monastery, but since then there has been significant building improvements and additions to the compound, so I will make a pioneer effort to document the newer look of the monastery.

This is a new landmark on the road to the monastery, after here the road leads solely to the monastery and no where else

zoom in to an icon of mother Mary and infant Christ

the entrance to the monastery's courtyard

front view

nuns always maintain the monastery's garden well

the rear view blocked by the wall

the whole compound from the rear

chestnut trees are just outside the monastery

side view

also found near are the pomegranate trees, in Greek this fruit is called ρόδι

As you can see monasteries are often built in remote mountain areas because the nuns or monks want quietness to approach God by worshiping and praying, the road shown in the picture is an unpaved road, an alternative way to reach the monastery if you have a jeep

this is a small church structure at a lookout point not far from the monastery

Overlooking the town of Astros, whereas the far-away hill to the right is Paralio Astros

To see all the photos for the Monastery Paleopanagia near Astros, go to this link.

A slide presentation of Paralio Astros, Greece

I hope I have documented well the photos of this place in Peloponnisos called Paralio Astros (normally about 2 hours and 15 minutes drive from Athens).  It is located east of Tripoli by the sea and is a family resort “town” over-crowded with Greeks during the summer, otherwise, a quiet fishing village.

It has many beaches ranging from sandy, small pebbles, to rocky ones.

There is a Medieval castle (not maintained, and if you know its history, please write me) on top of the hill Nisi (Greek word meaning island), but the Nisi is connected to the mainland Peloponnisos, therefore it is not an island.

The place is not an international tourist spot, however if you are into surfing or gliding, Paralio Astros usually has strong wind in the afternoon for this type of sports.  Nearby, there is a not-well-explored cave under the sea.

The hotel Alexandros near the platia (Greek word meaning center square) is quite clean and every room is equipped with a medium-sized fridge plus a small stove top so you can make your own breakfasts (my family had rented a room before).

There are two camp sites in the area, the Astros Camping (it is not far from the beach Vervena, this beach is very safe for little kids and non-swimmers) and the Camping Thirea (sandy to small pebbles beach and is near windsurfing equipment rentals).

You may take a day trip from Paralio Astros to the first capital of Greece, Nafplio, it’s only 30 minutes drive one way.  Another day trip you can take is to visit the museum at the Mycenae archaeological site.

If you prefer to see Paralio Astros from an aerial view, here is the best I found through an internet search, this one covers well the landscape and is quite up-to-date http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djiWftc6vTI&eurl=http://video.google.com/videosearch%3Fhl%3Den%26q%3Dparalio%2Bastros%26um%3D1%26ie%3DUTF-8%26ei%3D8un3ScvEJcWEsAb82qmBAg%26sa&feature=player_embedded; or another one with excellent music http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQzVbFFFXwU.

Photos links below:

Paralio Astros (55 images)

The Castle of Paralio Astros (31 images)

The sky and sea of Paralio Astros (13 images)