TROODITISSA MONASTERY

Set in a pine forest at an altitude of 1,380 m, between Platres and Prodromos, this Greek Orthodox monastery (Ιερά Μονή Τροοδίτισσας/Iera Moni Trooditissas) may have been founded in the ^10th century. Dedicated to the "Virgin of the Troodos", it owes its prestige to an icon of the Virgin attributed to St. Luke, but also to a "fertility belt" of the Virgin that attracts couples with fertility problems. Destroyed and rebuilt twice in the ^18th and ^19th centuries, the complex includes a richly decorated church dating from 1842.