Evangelistria Monastery
The island's best-known and most beautiful monastery sits on Skiathos's highest point and was dedicated in the late-18th century to the Annunciation of the Virgin by the monks of Mt. Athos. It encouraged education and gave a base to revolutionaries, who pledged an oath to freedom and first hoisted the flag of Greece here in 1807. Looming above a gorge, and surrounded by fragrant pines and cypresses, the monastery has a high wall that once kept pirates out; today it encloses a ruined refectory kitchen, the cells, a small museum library, and a magnificent church with three domes. Fascinating still, it houses the wooden loom that wove the very first Greek flag. A gift shop sells the monastery's own Alypiakos wine, olive oil, locally made preserves, and Orthodox icons. A café on a hill next to the monastery serves drinks and snacks, with stupendous views of the surrounding mountains and ocean. In summer, a bus goes to and from the monastery from the main bus station in Skiathos Town, where the bus times are advertised.
