When researching visiting Mt Athos as part of my UNESCO Journey, I thought this was going to be one of my more difficult ones to achieve. I am not religious and can be best described as Agnostic with values and due to the actions of my parents baptising me for their beliefs, qualified me for entry under the "visiting pilgrim" of a different faith other than Greek Orthodox. I did however feel like an imposter as I was visiting to experience the Cultural and History of Mt Athos, not the religious aspect. Only 10 Non-Greek Orthodox visitors and 100 Greek Orthodox visitors can visit per day.

I reached out about 12 months prior to travel via email athosreservation@gmail.com to the reservation office to try and obtain my entry permit, a Diamonitirion, only to be told that they do not take bookings that far in advance and to recontact them 3 months prior to my planned visit. I set my calander and did so to the day. I had a week period based in Thessaloniki and when I recontacted them back, there was only 1 spot available over that week period and this was the 8th of October 2025. A copy of my passport was required to verify my idenity and they wished to know my baptised religion. I was advised to pick up my Diamonitirion on the morning of my visit and if I wished to stay at particular monasteries that I was to liaise with them prior to travel, so as to book a room. The Diamonitirion was valid for 3 days only.

After contemplating logistics and timings, I decided to only plan a day visit rather than an overnight visit as the overnight visit at monasteries, I felt was more aligned to religious activities by visitors, of which I was not partaking and if I did so, I would feel more a fraud. This however also came at a price as I wanted to maximise my time on Mt Athos, I choose to utilise the services of Mount Athos Guides a local company info@athos.guide The initial price was 680 Euro for the day tour, which I declined. The tour was eventually offered for 350 Euro for just a driver, no tour guide and a vehicle. You can't hire a car yourself or drive onto Mt Athos from Greece. As it was, Andrew, the driver, was a Moldavian pilgrim working on Mt Athos, who had very good English and was very knowledgeable, so a tour guide was really not needed at all. This was still on the expensive side of visiting a UNESCO site for me but felt it was my best option to visit this site.

I was already in the possession of a hire car and I drove out from Thessaloniki at about 3.30am in the morning to Ouranoupoli and parked in the large carpark just near the Diamonitirion Issuing Office arriving at about 5.00am. Standing outside the office there was a crowd of about 100 people waiting for the office to open at 5.30am. Entering the office, you hand over your passport again and they check to make sure you have a booking. What I didn't expect though, was that I was further questioned about what religion I was and my purpose for visiting. I advsied them that I was baptised, not practising religion at this time and wished to visit monasteries on Mt Athos with Mt Athos Guides which had been booked. He seemed to think about this response for a short time (felt a lot longer) and gave me my passport back directing me to further down the line where they printed my Diamonitirion. I then handed over 25 Euro - I now had my Mt Athos Passport.

As part of the tour, a fast ferry reservation was made for me at 8.45am on the speedboat, Odigitria. Boarding the ferry my passport and Diamonitirion were once again checked to make sure you were the same person and then you were let on the boat. It was just not me though, every passenger was checked. Once we left the port we hugged the Mt Athos Coast and passed a number of monasteries, which we did not call in to. The main entry port into Mount Athos is Dafni, however I was getting off at St Panteleimon Monastery, which was located just before. I arrived at 9.30am and was greeted by Andrew and our visit to Mt Athos began from here, with a visit to this Monastery. As stated, Andew was very knowledgeable and he timed our visits to Monasteries based on their opening times of some of the churches within the Monasteries to maximise the opportunity to see their individual Icons located in them.

All up we visited a number of monasteries and churches located on Mt Athos, in what was some great logistical planning. These monasteries included, St Panteleimon Monastery, the Monastery of Vatopedi, Skete of Saint Andrew, Monastery of Iviron, Stavronikita Monastery (Church of St Nicholas) and the Skete of Prophet Elijah. This also included the Administrative Captial of Mt Athos, Karyes (Church of the icon of the mother of God) and Daphni Port for my return journey. I caught the 3.45pm slow ferry back to Ouranoupoli, which stopped off at 3 Monasteries on its return journey before arriving back at about 5.00pm. A return drive to Thessaloniki got me back home at 7.30pm.

Some observations on Mt Athos. The monasteries and churches were not any more glamorous or outstanding than any others that I have visited off Mt Athos, however their individual history and the overall history in the Mount Athos area is something to witness. Just about every Monastery was undergoing some form of renovation, construction or development. Some minor and some major. A large port is being built just off the Monastery of Vatopedi at a cost of nearly 7 million Euro, courtesy of funding from the EU. The administration of Mt Athos is from Karyes, where each of the 20 Monasteries have a representative in the Administration Building for decison making about Mt Athos. When asked if they will ever make a decision to allow women to visit Mt Athos, the response was that there is a lot of pressure from the EU on the Mt Athos Administration to do so, and funding is being used as an incentive if Mt Athos wishes to get more funding. Watch this space, but this current rule, in my view is not suitable (banning women to enter Mt Athos).

All up, I had mixed emotions in visiting this location, given its discriminatory nature (no women) and my agnostic beliefs feeling like a fraud in visiting but was pleased that I did visit the area to view the cultural history, being one of its reason for its Inscription. I think more pressure though needs to be applied to inscribed locations of this nature (this isn't the only one), if their inscription is to remain.

Interesting on my return from Mt Athos and discussing my journey with local residents in Thessaloniki, Mt Athos is apparently known as a location where criminals go and hide from Greek Police who are forbidden to enter Mt Athos to extradite them back. I am not sure how true this latter statement is, but it came up a number of different times with different locals.

Bottom line, I feel it is worth a visit. If you are not visiting for religious purposes, then a day visit I think is only needed. If it is for religious purposes, you would be advised to undertake overnighting at a Monastery or Monasteries to experience this aspect as well.

It is a lot of effort and expense though to tick this UNESCO site off your visited list.