Moni Filanthropinon looks unassuming from the outside. But after entering the monastery courtyard, the caretaker will usher you through a wooden door for you to see unflinchingly macabre frescoes of the fates of the saints. No detail of amputations, skin peelings and torture by wheel is left unrendered. Just as intriguing (and easier on the eye) are the 16th-century frescoes of Greek philosophers Plato, Aristotle and Plutarch sitting alongside more suitably Christian personalities.
Built in the 13th century by the Filanthropini, a leading Constantinopolitan family who fled the Crusaders in 1204, Moni Filanthropinon became a secret school for Christians during the Ottoman Muslim domination. Follow the right-hand path along the Island's western edge to reach this well-signposted monastery. Continue along the trail for what is the Island's oldest monastery, Moni Diliou (less well preserved than Filanthropinon) and Moni Eleousis .
