Taxiarches-Asteriou Monastery

  Ascending to the top of Hymettus, passing at first by the monastery of Kessariani and then by Kalopoula, we reach the Monastery of Michaelmas, widely known as Moni Asteriou, at an altitude of 545 m. The monastery of Michaelmas is said to be named "Asteriou" after St. Lucas "Stiriotis", founder of the homonym monastery in Viotia who came in Athens as a teenager in 920 A.D. The monastery of Michaelmas dates approximately to the 16th century A.D., and according to sources it was a glebe of the monastery of Kessariani. The old monastery is preserved to this day intact, including a fort-like parvis, 2 buildings' wings and the catholic. The internal surface of the temple bears wall-paintings of the 16th century.