Karakalou Monastery
Karakalou Monastery is one of the 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Mount Athos. It is ranked eleventh in the Athonite, the hierarchical order of the twenty monasteries on the Athos peninsula.
About this building
The monastery was founded at the beginning of the 11th century. While it is not clear who its founder was, many sources identify it with a monk named Nikolaos Karakallas.
The monastery resembles a fortress town with a watchtower standing on a slope by the sea. Apart from the katholikon or main church (built between 1548 and 1563 ), the monastery has five smaller churches inside its wall and three outside them.