Mt Pentélikon (Pendéli Range) Pentélikon

Leaving Athens by way of Leofóros Kifissiás and going northeast, we pass through the suburb of Chalándri and come in another 8km/5mi to a village with a poplar-shaded square (restaurant) in which is Pendéli Monastery, founded in 1578 (alt. 430m/1,410ft).The monastery buildings are modern. In the basement, which is entered from outside, visitor are shown various sacred books and one of the "secret schools" in which monks taught children during the period of Turkish occupation. A flight of steps to the right leads into the monastery courtyard with its beautiful little church and ranges of cells.The road continues past the monastery to a square surrounded by cafes, where there is a small church set among trees. From here can be seen the marble quarries which disfigure the hill and the modern technical installations on the summit. Below the square, among the trees, is a little country house which belonged to the Duchesse de Plaisance; the house is now surrounded by modern bungalows (in Leofóros Dukíssis Plakentías).

On the eastern slopes of Pentélikon, above the road from Athens to Stavrós and Marathón, is the Daou Pentéli Monastery, founded in the 12th century and rebuilt in the 16th, which has been called "the only example of a large monastic establishment in Greece outside Athos" (Kirsten- Kraiker).

In a hollow below the summit of Pentélikon, surrounded by poplars, is the Pentéli monastery (alt. 430m/1,410ft), founded in 1578. It can be reached from Athens by way of the suburb of Khalándri (8km/5mi beyond Khalándri). The road continues to just below the summit. From the monastery the ancient marble quarries marble quarries can be reached (alt. 700m/2,300ft).

On the north side of Pentélikon, on the road from Athens via Kifissiá and Drosiá to Néa Mákri on the east coast, is the little town of Dionysós (alt. 460m/1,510ft), whose tavernas are popular with the citizens of Athens. Near here is a sanctuary of Dionysos, which belonged to Ikaría, home of Thespis, who produced the first tragedy in Athens in 534 B.C.