Access to the Monastery of Agios Stephanos (St. Stephen) is gained via a small stone bridge leading from the modern road to the main entrance. Although the first evidence of habitation on the rock dates back to the 12th century, the monastery was founded in the 14th century by Anthony, a member of the Catacuzenus dynasty. In the mid 16th century the catholicon was restored by Philotheos, the monk who is regarded as the second founder. In 1545 Patriarch Jeremiah I declared Agios Stephanos independent and stavropegic , privileges which it retained for the following 200 years. The new catholicon dedicated to Agios Charalambos was built in the late 18^th century.

Apart from the old and new catholica and a few later buildings, a number of other structures have been restored and preserved: the oblong refectory, which is roofed over by two elliptical domes and presently functions as a sacristy - cum - museum, a small square vaulted kitchen, stables and cells.

The old catholicon is composed of the lite and the church proper. A tripartite arched opening in the square lite leads to a single nave timber-roofed church ending in a three-sided apse to the east. The wall paintings in Agios Stephanos were completed in two phases. The first, which would appear to have been sponsored by Abbot Metrophanus and Brother Gregory, accounted for the paintings in the sanctuary, the nave and the greater part of the lite. These follow the anti-classical tradition of post-Byzantine art and, based on stylistic features, date to the 1st half of the 17th century; they have been attributed to artists from Linotopi in Epirus. The paintings covering the west wall in the lite and the lower zone on the piers of the tribelon leading to the nave both derive from the second decoration phase, and were sponsored by Abbot Grigorios.

Built in 1798, the new catholicon is a cross-in-square triconch domed church dedicated to Agios Haralambos. The Prothesis and Diakonicon also have domes, while to the east the church ends in three semicircular apses.