Skiathos, Greece — Panagia Kounistra Monastery Georgios Michalagas · CC BY-SA 4.0

Monastery · Μονή Παναγίας Κουνίστρας

Panagia Kounistra Monastery

Built in 1655 where a monk found an icon swinging from a pine branch. The icon itself lives in Skiathos Town and comes home once a year, on 21 November.

Getting thereAbout 13km from town on the Aselinos road. B…

Allow45 minutes, more if you walk in from Troulos

CostNot verified

The swinging icon

In 1650, by local tradition, a hieromonk named Symeon found an icon of the Virgin dangling from a pine branch and giving off light. Kounistra means roughly "the swinging one" — either because the icon swung on the branch, or from the local name for a place where the trees sway. The monastery was built on the spot of the finding in 1655.

In local terms this is the holiest site on the island. Panagia Eikonistria is the patron saint of Skiathos.

The detail most guides get wrong. The miraculous icon is not kept at the monastery. It lives in the Trion Ierarchon church in Skiathos Town and is carried back to Kounistra once a year, on 21 November, for the feast of the Presentation of the Virgin. If you have come to see the icon, you want the church in town, not the monastery in the woods.

The festival nobody sees

On the eve of 21 November islanders gather at the monastery and spend the night in the courtyard around fires; on the day the icon is carried in procession from the town up to the monastery. It is the biggest genuinely local festival in the Skiathos year.

It also falls squarely outside the tourist season, when the charter flights have stopped and the resorts are shut. The island's most important day is one that almost no visitor has ever been present for. That is worth knowing even if you are never going to act on it.

Getting there

About 13km from Skiathos Town, on the road towards Aselinos beach, at around 200m altitude in the most heavily pine-forested part of the west of the island.

Without a car: bus to stop 18 (Troulos), then follow the road right towards Aselinos for about 2km. There is also a signposted circular walk from Troulos.

Facilities: a covered seating area under the trees and a tap with spring water. No refreshments — bring your own. Opening hours and any entry fee are unverified.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Panagia Kounistra monastery known for?

It was built in 1655 on the spot where, in 1650, a monk named Symeon is said to have found an icon of the Virgin swinging from a pine branch and giving off light. Kounistra means roughly 'the swinging one'. Panagia Eikonistria is the patron saint of Skiathos.

Where is the Kounistra icon kept?

Not at the monastery, which surprises most visitors. The icon lives in the Trion Ierarchon church in Skiathos Town and is carried back to the monastery once a year, on 21 November, for the feast of the Presentation of the Virgin.

How do you get to Panagia Kounistra without a car?

Take the bus to stop 18 at Troulos, then follow the road right towards Aselinos for about 2km. There is also a signposted circular walking route from Troulos.

When is the Skiathos patron saint festival?

21 November, the feast of the Presentation of the Virgin. Islanders gather at the Kounistra monastery on the eve and spend the night in the courtyard around fires; the icon is carried in procession from town to the monastery on the day. It falls well outside the tourist season.

More on the island

Other things to see

Kastro

The abandoned medieval capital on a clifftop at the island's northern tip

Evangelistria Monastery

Where the Greek flag is traditionally held to have first been raised, in 1807

Bourtzi

The pine-covered peninsula that splits the harbour in two

The Papadiamantis House Museum

The home of the writer they call the saint of Greek letters

Lalaria

Beach, boat access only

White stones, a pierced rock and no road in

The sea caves

Natural feature, boat access only

Skotini, Galazia and Halkini — dark, blue and copper

Keep exploring

All things to do

A church on Skiathos

The Attikon open-air cinema

A Greek summer institution still running in the middle of town — and the obvious answer to 'one evening that isn't a bar'.

Bourtzi, Skiathos

Bourtzi

A fortified Venetian headland turned quarantine station, turned school, turned cultural centre — and the dividing line between the old port and the.

Tsougria, Skiathos

Day trips from Skiathos

Half of Skiathos has no road on it, and the next island along is a short hop.