HERAKLEION- RETHYMNON

Herakleion - Platanes - Arkadi
monastery - Elefthema. Return:
Perivolia (Prassies - Assomaton monastery - Amari).

Leaving Herakleion through the Chania Gate, we follow the new coastal national road to the west.
We pass the Ghazi intersection and continue towards the northwest for Linoperamata, Pantanassa, Palaeokastro,
Aghia Pelaghia intersection (see route
7, in the opposite direction). We continue westwards towards the Fodele intersection (26 kms.) and Sisses (35 kms.
from Herakleion). 12.5 kms. beyond
Sisses, 48 kms. from Herakleion, a
short detour to the right leads to the
lovely coastal settlement of Ball built
on a picturesque little bay, with sandy
beaches, a clean sea, several hotels and
rooms to rent, restaurants, seafood
tavernas etc.

Not far from the settlement is the mon-
astery of St. John the Baptist, dating
from the 16th century.
At the 58 km. point on the Herakleion
to Rethymnon national readjust off the
main road, lies Panormos (detour to the
south towards Perama Melidoni. see
route 7).

This is a seaside village, popular with
tourists, offering hotel accommodation,
tavernas, bars, discos etc. It is believed
that, on this same spot, stood the an-
cient town of the same name, which
was the port of Elefthema. During the
Venetian period, and up to the early
20th century, it was known as Kastelli.
It has a strong fortress with seven towers and two gates, of which nothing remains today, as it was destroyed by Khair-ed-Din Barbarossa in 1538.

To the southwest of the village, at the
site of Aghia Sophia, lie the ruins of an
early Christian 5th century basilica
with a wooden roof, believed to have
been dedicated to Saint Sophia.

Our route continues westwards, along
the coast. We pass through the village
of Stavromenos (69 kms. from Hera-
kleion), and here we'join the old Hera-
kleion to Rethymnon national road
(Chani Alexandrou - Perama - Dama-
sta - Marathos - Ghazi: route 7. South
of Chani Alexandrou lies the pictur-
esque village of "Margarites," which
has a long tradition of pottery-making).

Five hundred metres from Stavromenos,
a left detour leads us to the Arseni
monastery.

Further along the road to the west we
come to the summer resorts ofKambos
Pighis or Pighianos Kambos, and Adelianos Kambos.

At the 75th km., a flyover with a fork
towards the southeast leads, after 17
kms., and after passing through the villages of Adele, Pighi, Loutra, Kyrian-
na, and Amnato, to the historic monas-
tery of Arkadi (23 kms. southeast of Rethymnon), built on a hill with a magnificent view over the verdant area
surrounding it. (A tourist pavillion
operates outside the monastery).

The monastery is built like a fortress. It
is surrounded by several buildings and
its external walls are 1.2 m. thick.

The main entrance to the monastery is
on the western side of the castle precinct, through the so-called Chania or Rethymnon Gate, which was destroyed
in 1866 and rebuilt in 1870, on the same
pattern as the original gate. This is
where the monks' cells were situated,
which communicated with the courtyard
through a cloister, as in Catholic monasteries.

Almost at the centre of the precinct
stands the monastery church, a basilica
with a baroque facade and two naves -
one of which is dedicated to the Trans-
figuration of Christ and the other to
Saints Constantine and Helen. The
woodcarved iconostasis was destroyed
during the 1866 explosion. Parts of it
are kept in the museum.
According to one theory, the monastery
was founded in the 5th century by the
Byzantine emperor, Arcadius, from
whom it got its name.

According to another - which is probably the correct one - it was founded by a
monk named Arcadius.
The church with its two naves was built
in 1587 and its architectural style is a
mixture of Renaissance, Gothic, Classi-
cal and Baroque elements.

The 16th and 17th centuries were a pe-
riod of prosperity for the monastery: it
had 300 or so monks, according to writ-
ten testimonies of foreign travellers,
important revenues and a rich library.
It was a centre for the copying of manu-
scripts while, during the 18th century,
it included a workshop for the fashion-
ing and embroidering in gold of holy
vestments.

After the Greek War of Independence
of 1821, many Cretan guerilla fighters
who were being hunted by the Turks,
took refuge in the monastery. It thus
became a meeting place for independ-
ence fighters, who used the monastery
for their secret councils.

On November 7th, 1866, a Turkish
force of 15,000 men besieged the monas-
tery, and its leader demanded of the
Abbot Gabriel to surrender the mem-
bers of the revolutionary committee
who were gathered there. At that time,
apart from the members of the commit-
tee, 300 armed men and 600 or so
women and children had also taken re-
fuge in the monastery. When the Abbot
refused, the Turks opened fire.

Those entrenched in the monastery resisted fiercely for two days, but on November 9th, their resistance weakened and, in order not to surrender to the enemy, the fighters set fire to the powder magazines. In the explosion, all those in
the monastery were killed and, with
them, many Turks who had in the
meantime forced their way into the
monastery sacrifice came to be called, is a landmark of immense importance in the history of the struggle of the Cretan people for freedom.

To the northeast of the Arkadi monastery, a road - half tarred, half dirt - leads to the village ofEleftherna. There is a road from Perama as well. (Old national road from Herakleion to Rethymnon). The village is situated on a hill which stands out amidst a fertile region.

Near the village are the ruins of the an-
cient town of the same name, which is
also known as Apollonia. It is believed
to have been founded during the Geo-
metric period and to have flourished
until Roman and early Byzantine times. It had a wall built with huge blocks of stone, an aqueduct and large reservoirs.
On the northern side of the hill there stood a temple, which was believed to

have been dedicated to the god Apollo, who was worshipped here. Systematic excavations were begun on this site in 1985.
We now return to the main road.
After the plain ofAdele, the road passes
through the coastal suburbs of Rethymnon: Platanes, Misiria and Perivolia, and leads to Rethymnon town, 80 kms. from Herakleion. From Perivolia
(3 kms. east of Rethymnon) a fork on
the left, leading southwards, passes
through many picturesques villages
and crosses the fertile valley of Amari,
situated almost in the heart of the pre-
fecture of Rethymnon. It leads to an
interesting area with many Byzantine
churches.

Among these villages we might mention: Prassies, Thronos, Apostoli, the Asomaton monastery (which runs a farm school). A detour takes us to Amari (6 kms.), the capital of the province of the same name, while the road continues southeastwards towards Vizari, Fourfoura, Apodoulou.

Just before the last village, the site of a
Late Minoan settlement and a vaulted
tomb were discovered. Beyond the village of Apodoulou, the road branches out: the left fork leads to Kamares, Vrontissi monastery - Zaro (see route 6), .while the right fork takes us to Aghia Galini on the coast.