Mount Athos, a Male-Only Holy Retreat, Is Ruffled by Tourists and Russia - The New York Times

Mount Athos, a Male-Only Holy Retreat, Is Ruffled by Tourists and Russia - The New York Times:

For almost as long as there have been monks here, women have been barred — considered a distraction and undue competition for the Virgin Mary, the patron saint. There are no hotels, no bars, no stores, no television and no swimming, plus a daily quota limits visitors.

Travelers arrive on boats providing the only public access to the peninsula. Collectively, the monasteries play host to an average of 1,200 people nightly, all without charge.

The difficult access and the high monastery walls once built against marauding pirates seemed to keep time at bay, too, but now the modern world penetrates on cellphone signals and internet connections.