The Holy Mount Athos is an autonomous and self-governed territory of Greece, it has this status since Byzantine times. It occupies the whole of the third peninsula of Chalkidiki in northern Greece. In the center of the peninsula rise a long range of hills and mountains, culminating in Mount Athos itself, 2,033m high. It is a unique male monastic society, an Orthodox spiritual center since the 10th century — accessed only from the sea and allowed to men only.
