Unique views from the balcony, wild natural beauty, a 120 m. rock that rises steeply are enough reasons to visit the Monastery of the Great Cave. It is, according to many scholars, the oldest monastery in Greece, one of the most impressive pilgrimage sites of Orthodoxy. Tradition states that it was founded in 362 AD by the monks Symeon and Theodore at the spring where the icon of the Virgin Mary was found, a work of the Evangelist Luke made of wax, mastic and other materials. It was burned and rebuilt many times since then, the last time in 1943 by the Germans. It contains important sacred and national relics. Distance 12 km. from Kalavryta, access by road from Patras and Kalavryta, on foot from Kalavryta from the Zachlorou path, tel. +30 26920-23130.
