Driving along the narrow and winding road to Kalarrites, a beautiful village that belongs to Tzoumerka, you will meet… over your head a special monastery, the Monastery of Kipinas.
Iera Moni Kipinas is a monastery of unique architectural construction, built entirely within a steep, vertical rock.
The monastery took the name “Kipina” from the gardens that were formerly cultivated by the monks of the area. In fact, it is quite reminiscent of the monastery of Panagia Soumela in Pontus, though much smaller in size, of course.
Information about its foundation is divided. Some say that it was founded in 1212 by Archbishop Gregory and others that it was founded in the 13th century by monks from the neighbouring Vylizas Monastery.
To visit it, you leave your vehicle at the roadside below the monastery and take the path carved into the rock to reach a small wooden suspension bridge, which the monks used to raise with a lever to cut off access to enemies.
During the 18th century the monastery flourished, while in the 19th century it was abandoned and in 1931 it became a part of the monastery of Tsoukas. The monastery had a hidden school and the cave in the rock was used as a shelter by the local inhabitants.
The catholic has as its roof the natural rock, which has been carved in such a way that it forms a regular uniform dome.
