Σπηλαιοεκκλησία Αγίου Αντωνίου

Cave Church of St. Anthony

Useful Information

Location:	Neo Karlovasi 832 00. Located in the rock overlooking the harbour. (37.7927773, 26.6776084)
Open:	no restrictions. [2024]
Fee:	free. [2024]
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	bring torch
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Cave Church of St. Anthony, Tel: +30-.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

Description

Σπηλαιοεκκλησία Αγίου Αντωνίου (Cave Church of St. Anthony) is located right at the coast. There are actually two churches, one which is a typical white building which was built at the wall. The actual cave church is inside the cave, in a rather spacious chamber. This cave is notable as it has numerous speleothems at the walls. There is no building inside the cave only the typical items which are needed for a Greek Orthodox church, like iconostasis, candles, icons and so forth. In other words, they omitted all the church walls, the cave chamber is the church.

The cave is easy to find and does not require long drives on narrow roads. In the town Neo Karlovasi drive to the beach and turn left, at the harbour turn left uphill to a tiny suburb with many churches named Old Karlovasi. If you see the sign Paleo, that's a restaurant, you can follow this sign. Keep right and behind the playground follow the trail 4A. It's about 800 m to the cave church, as it goes steep uphill you may need 15 or 20 minutes.