I’m not necessarily a fan of ecumenical tourism, but there are some monasteries for which it’s good to thank the Lord for getting them in your way. And this is because they overcome the barriers of “normality,” being built in unexpected places and bizarre forms. Kipinas Monastery can easily fall into this category.
Located in the gorge of the Kalarytikos River, in the Tzoumerka Mountains (near the village of Kalarites), Kipinas is a monastery carved in a rock at a considerable height. Monks do not live it; therefore, if you want to visit it, you need to know the secret: the key is taken from the neighboring village (and is brought back at the end of the visit). So, if you hit it in quiet time, you have every chance that in half an hour that you reserve for admiring this gem, you get great exclusivity.
Kipinas was built in 1212 by a group of monks who detached from the neighboring monastery Vyliza, following some disagreements with the abbot. They found themselves in a cave which they discovered by chance and whose entrance they began to arrange it in a manastrian form, using materials from the surroundings. After leaving your car in the small parking lot below, climb the road to the rock where the monastery was “carved” and open the wooden gate to enter the clean and quiet interior.
