Moni Taxiarhon

Around 36km north of Mytilini Town, near Mantamados village, stands one of Lesvos’ most important pilgrimage sites. An axis of Orthodoxy, myth and militarism, the grand 17th-century Moni Taxiarhon says much about the blatant lack of separation between State and Church in Greece – note the fighter plane parked out the front, reminding the faithful that the Archangel Michael is the patron saint of the Hellenic Air Force.