Monasteries and caves on the slopes

On Hymettus the monuments come in two kinds. Some were built by people, and others were shaped by stone over time.

Monasteries. The mountain's Byzantine tradition includes five known monasteries:

• Kaisariani Monastery, on the western slopes, built on a site worshipped since antiquity. It preserves the ruins of an early Christian basilica, the church from around 1100, the refectory (probably 16th or 17th century), the cells and the bath, which under Ottoman rule became an olive press.
• Monastery of St John the Theologian, between Cholargos and Papagou.
• Monastery of the Hunter, on the northernmost peak, today a convent for women. Its feast day is 29 August. According to Wikipedia, Nikos Kazantzakis planned to found a spiritual community there in the 1920s.
• Monastery of St John the Baptist at Kareas, on the western slopes near the Kareas district.
• Asteriou Monastery, on the western slopes. Many publications place it in the 11th to 13th century, while Charalambos Bouras dated it to the 16th.

Caves. The largest and most important is Koutouki cave, on the eastern slopes above Paiania. Smaller is Liontari (Lion) cave, on the eastern side of the mountain at 550 metres, west of Glyka Nera (Wikipedia puts it in the north). Its name is tied to the tradition of the lion of Hymettus, which once lived on the mountain and terrified the locals.