Agios Petros is an impressive bay located in the southwestern coast of the deserted Kyra Panagia islet. It has emerald green waters and is a popular destination for boaters. It also has a tiny islet in its entrance named Agios Petros. The strong point of the bay is its emerald-green water and not the shore. Agios Petros is a good anchorage with north winds (which usually prevail in the summer in the Aegean). The trip to Kyra Panagia is ideal for those loving exploration. Of course there are no faciilities there and you have to be prepared.
Kyra Panagia is an uninhabited island located close to Alonissos at its Northeastern side. With an area of 25 square kilometres Kyra Panayia is the largest of the desert islands of Sporades complex. The hills are between 169 and 299 metres high. It was the ancient Alonnisos, and later named Pelagonisi. The island is now the property of the Grand Lavra monastery on Mount Athos, and takes its name from the monastery of the same name there. In 963 a.c., Saint Athanasios bought the island from the Byzantine noblemen of Constantinople as a dependency of Mount Athos, which it supplied with food such meat, honey, oil, and wheat. It is well-known that women may not enter Mount Athos, but many will not be aware that neither are female animals allowed, so Athos's requirements of meat are met by its dependencies. This is how goat-farming started on Kyra Panayia, and the system whereby the island is rented from the Grand Lavra monastery by goat-farmers to graze their flocks continues to the present day.
The island's monastery, built in 1100 a.d., is situated on the South-eastern side. Up until 1984 there was still a monk there. The monastery overlooks the sea from its height, and resembles a small fortress, reminiscent of the times when pirates laid waste to the area. Its natural harbour is exposed to the elements and caïques can only approach in favourable conditions.
The monastery buildings, simple but impressive, were restored in 1992 with funds given by the Potamianos family, and is again ready to receive monks who might wish to go there. It is interesting to see the still-existing old oil-press and flour mill. From up here on clear days there is an excellent view of the island of Yioura opposite, with the rocky islets Pappous and Grammiza in front of it, and further off the little island of Piperi. In good weather one can see the flat bulk of Psathoura jut