Ilia (southeast)
To the southeast of Loutra Aedipsou, the newly constructed road to Limni hugs the shore beneath the steep slopes of Mount Telethrion (969m). At 9.5km is the small fishing village of Ilia—once accessible only by boat— spread along a protected beach with a number of attractive fish tavernas. At the eastern extremity of the beach an abundant hot spring (65Β°C) of highly ferrous water gushes from the rock and disperses in the sea, depositing an orange coloured mud of therapeutic qualities. This is another of the group of springs (Gialtra, Aedipsos, and Thermopylae on the opposite mainland shore) of common geological origin, ranged around the northern end of the gulf of Euboea. From Ilia, a track (in poor condition) leads 8km up the mountainside to the remote and dramatic site of the 18th century monastery of Aghios Giorgios Iliou, occupying possibly the same location as the oracle-sanctuary of Apollo Selinuntios which Strabo mentions. The catholicon is decorated with late Byzantine wall-paintings and a carved wooden iconostasis of 1834. Five kilometres beyond Ilia towards Limni is a sister con vent of Aghia Irini Chrysovalantou; the position is also fine, but the fabric modern.
Euboea Island, Greece