The peninsula of Athos in Chalkidiki was named after the mountain of the same name steeply rising at the peninsula’s end above the Aegean See. Since, from time immemorial, monks took shelter there, it was called the Holy Mountain, or AΓΗΟΝ ΟΡOΣ. The former fishing villages of Ouranoupolis and Hierissos are situated on the boundary of the territory inhabited by monks, to which entrance by women is prohibited.

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