East of Hania continued Page 10

From here it takes about forty minutes to walk to the Monastery of Katholiko (left), an even older place, sited in a ravine amid cliffs. The monks here fled three centuries ago to Gouverneto after repeated pirate attacks. There are caves here, used during early Christian times, one of them with a chapel at its entrance, in pre-Christian times sacred to Artemis, who was worshipped here in the form of a bear.

Interestingly, the later Christian chapel was dedicated to the Panaghia Arkoudhiotissa (right) (bear in Greek is 'arkhoudha'), illustrating the often unbroken line in Greece between pre-Christian places of worship later converted to Christian ones and renamed. You pass this cave on the way to Katholiko, whose buildings lie on either side of a bridge above a dry stream-bed. There is a vigil held here on the eve of St John's Feast Day, on 7 October, St John's grave found in a cave near the bridge. This saint was called 'Ermitis' (hermit), who was a 11th century evangelist. After the Byzantines had taken Crete back from the Saracens, it was he, whose life's work was the re-establishment of Christianity. At the bottom of the ravine (which you can get down to, though there is no path), you can follow the streambed to the sea, where there is a a tiny cove and the remains of a port. The water there is lovely, though you have to swim from the rocks, there being no beach.

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