Golden Wellspring Monastery

Golden Wellspring Monastery Review

Between the famed beach of Platys Yialos and the harbor of Faros lies Chrysopigi, the spectacular site of the Golden Wellspring Monastery (1650), winner of Sifnos's "Most Picturesque" award. Its dramatic Cape Petálos perch—a rocky peninsula with seagirt views—overlooks the long, sandy beach of Apokofto (home to an excellent taverna). The Siphnians think of the monastery, built in 1650, as paradise, and the simple rooms it rents are booked way in advance. The chief icon here, which fishermen discovered gleaming in the waves, saved Sifnos in 1675 from plague and in 1928 from locusts. The gape in the entranceway, through which the sea whistles and hisses, was cut by another miracle. One dawn some local maidens who came to tend the church found seven pirates asleep. When the brigands awakened and pursued them with impure intentions, the maidens prayed to the Virgin. Aristomenes Provelengios, who often wrote in a cell here, described what took place: "Suddenly a great quake shook the cape and cut it from the shore … the women fell to their knees and glorified the Virgin for her grace."