Athos bay - Mount Athos - Greece Anchorage in Monastic State of Mount Athos

Athos bay, Mount Athos, Greece, lies by Mount Athos (Hagion Oros), a UNESCO World Heritage Site and self-governed part of the Greek State administered by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, consisting of 20 Orthodox monasteries on the eastern peninsula of Halkidiki. Women are not allowed to enter; monks and visitors live simply with no modern facilities, eating mainly bread and olives, staying in monastery cells or caves, praying and doing agricultural work. Foreign visitors need a letter of recommendation from their embassy in Athens or consulate in Thessaloniki and an entry permit from the Administration Division of Church Affairs at the Greek Foreign Ministry in Athens or Administration of Foreign Affairs at Ministry of Northern Greece in Thessaloniki. It is a good anchorage after going around Mount Athos, in a beautiful wooded environment, though some say it is in a forbidden zone and it is uncertain whether walking on the beach is allowed.