In order to get down into the actual monastery complex, you have to go back through the bell tower and down some more steps, immediately beside the monks' cells.
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Sights - Chania Prefecture - Akrotiri |
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Katholiko |
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From
the parking ground outside Gouvernetou Monastery a path is leading towards
the north down to Katholiko Monastery. The path passes the rock
Arkoudokefalo (Bear-head) to the right and the Agios Antonios monastery to
the left. You quickly reach the Bear Cave, after which the path becomes
steeper, while it twists down the northern slope towards Katholiko. After
a small natural platform (Kathia tou Despoti)
some steps lead straight down to the monastery.
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According
to tradition, there are 128 steps but they are impossible to count, as you
will "stumble" over the numbers.
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Just
before the end of the steps is the cave of St.
John the Hermit.
The
actual monastery area begins here, as you can se from the wall. A little
further ahead is the bell tower, where you enter the passage along the front
of the church.
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The church is built into a cave in the rock, so that you from the outside see only the front, which is clearly influenced by the Venetian building style. The actual passage is built on top of one of the monastery's storerooms. |
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In order to get down into the actual monastery complex, you have to go back through the bell tower and down some more steps, immediately beside the monks' cells.
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Straight forward is another two-storey building - the abbot's home. Inside the building grows an olive - the symbol of peace - which according to tradition has upturned leaves.
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But life in the monastery was not exactly peaceful, because it was exposed to several pirate attacks, during which it was plundered and destroyed and then re-built. It is said that among others, the well-known pirate Barbarossa attacked the monastery in the middle of the 16th century. |
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most impressing of the monastery's buildings is probably the large bridge,
built in 1621, while Ieremias Tsagarolos was the abbot of Gouvernetou
Monastery at the beginning of the 17th century.
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| The bridge connects the to mountain slopes and made it easier to get to the small buildings and caves, to which the hermits retired. A few of these buildings still exist. |
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