Arkadi Monastery Tour

An Arkadi monastery tour is a visit to a Greek Orthodox monastery in the Rethymno region of Crete. It is one of the Greece tours that join old history, mountain villages and the Cretan countryside.

What is an Arkadi monastery tour?

An Arkadi monastery tour is a trip to Arkadi Monastery on the island of Crete in Greece. The site is a Greek Orthodox monastery, a religious community where monks live and pray together. Greek Orthodox is a branch of Christianity.

An Arkadi monastery tour goes to the Rethymno region of Crete, southeast of the city of Rethymno. The monastery stands on a rectangular plateau, a flat area of raised ground. That plateau is on the northwest side of Mount Ida. The nearest village to the monastery is Amnatos, three kilometres to the north.

Tradition credits either Emperor Heraclius or Emperor Arcadius with founding the monastery. An emperor is the ruler of an empire. One theory says a monk named Arkadios founded the monastery and gave it his name. Neither account is proven as fact. Monks are men who give their lives to prayer inside a monastery.

A 14th-century inscription, which is carved writing, records that the earlier church was consecrated to Saint Constantine. Consecrated means made holy for worship. A saint is a holy person. The current church, called the katholikon, dates from the 16th century. The katholikon is the central church within a monastery.

• Wall: A thick, high wall surrounds the monastery and fortifies it, meaning the wall strengthens the site.
• Age: The exact founding date of the monastery is not precisely known.
• Role: The site of an Arkadi monastery tour became a national sanctuary, a holy place, honouring the Cretan resistance.

An Arkadi monastery tour brings together faith, history and landscape in a single place on Crete. It suits readers who want to understand the island through one site, not a long list of stops. The place is easy to find on a Cretan map.

What does the church add to an Arkadi monastery tour?

An Arkadi monastery tour has one building at its heart: the church. This basilica, a church built as a long hall, has two naves, its main halls. The church sits at the heart of the monastery, a little to the south.

Each nave of the church has its own dedication, meaning a saint or holy event it honours. The Transfiguration of Christ is the dedication of the northern nave. The southern nave honours Saint Constantine and Saint Helen. A monastery is the shared home of a monk community, who live and pray there.

The clock face carries an inscription, a line of writing cut into it. It says that Klimis Hortatsis founded the church in 1587. At that time Crete was a colony of the Republic of Venice, so Venice ruled the island. An Arkadi monastery tour therefore meets a church built under Venetian rule.

The facade, which is the front wall of the church, is built from square blocks. It has four pairs of Corinthian columns, a classical style of column. These columns give the church of an Arkadi monastery tour a front built in clear, even pairs. A pair means two columns standing together side by side.

• Pedestals: The columns rest on raised bases called pedestals and follow the Gothic form, a medieval building style.
• End arches: The two end arches of the facade hold a door and a round opening trimmed with palm leaves.
• Clock: The clock sits at the upper centre, with a Gothic obelisk, a slim pillar, at each end.

The building draws heavily on Renaissance Revival art. This is a later style that copies the look of the Renaissance period. The church seen on an Arkadi monastery tour mixes classical columns with Gothic touches. Both styles share the one front of the same church.

What does the 1866 siege add to an Arkadi monastery tour?

An Arkadi monastery tour is built around the story of the siege of 1866. By 7 November 1866, the monastery, which is a religious house for monks, sheltered 964 people. Of that number, 259 were armed men. The figures give the siege its human scale.

On 8 November, an army of 15,000 Ottomans reached the hills around the monastery. The Ottomans were soldiers of the Ottoman state. It brought 30 cannons, which are large guns that fire heavy iron balls. The attackers aimed first at the main door on the western side. That door was their first target.

During the final assault, women and children sheltered in the powder room. Kostis Giaboudakis, a rebel who fought against the ruling power, ignited the gunpowder stored in the monastery’s vaults. Ignited means set alight, and vaults are arched stone rooms. An Arkadi monastery tour that tells this part keeps to the recorded facts.

A second room held damp powder, which only partly exploded and damaged a northwest wall. Of the people present at the start of the assault, 846 died. An Arkadi monastery tour can state these numbers plainly and without blame. They belong to the historical record of the siege.

• Doubt: Panos Koronaios, a professional soldier, believed that the monastery was impossible to defend.
• Windmill: The windmill became a reliquary, a place that holds sacred objects, honouring the defenders of Arkadi.
• Reaction: The siege caused enormous shock across Europe and North America.

For readers planning an Arkadi monastery tour, these events are the background to the site. Knowing the order of the siege makes the place easier to understand. It runs from the arrival of the army to the final assault. Each point above is on record.

What does the Cretan Revolt add to an Arkadi monastery tour?

An Arkadi monastery tour touches on the 1866 revolt, the third and largest Cretan uprising against Ottoman rule. A revolt is an armed rising against those in power, such as a government. The Ottomans were the empire that governed Crete at that time.

Cretans first sent petitions to the Sultan, the Ottoman ruler, but these went unanswered. Armed bands were then formed, which means groups of fighters came together. The uprising was officially proclaimed on 21 August 1866. Any Arkadi monastery tour that covers the revolt can start from this date, which marks the formal start.

The 1856 Treaty of Paris required the Sultan to ensure civil and religious equality between Christians and Muslims. A second cause was Governor Ismail Pasha’s interference in a quarrel over how Cretan monasteries were organised. A treaty is a signed pact between two or more states. A monastery shelters a group of monks who live and pray as one.

The rebels initially held the hinterland, which means the inland country away from the coast. The Ottomans kept four fortified north-coast towns and Ierapetra. In plain words, the two sides held different parts of the island. This split shows why an Arkadi monastery tour sits inside a larger story of control over Crete.

• Arrival: Grand Vizier Âli Pasha, the Sultan’s chief minister, reached Crete in October 1867 and stayed four months.
• Reform: Âli Pasha’s Organic Law gave Cretan Christians equal control of local administration.
• Outcome: By early 1869 nearly the whole rebel leadership had submitted to Ottoman rule.

The Egyptian contingent in the conflict consisted of 16,000 infantry troops under a major-general. Infantry are the soldiers who go into battle on foot. A major-general is a senior army officer. Such facts give an Arkadi monastery tour a wider setting than one site alone.

What does Rethymno add to an Arkadi monastery tour?

An Arkadi monastery tour adds the town of Rethymno to a monastery visit. A monastery houses a group of monks. The present municipality of Rethymno was formed in 2011 by merging four units. Arkadi is one of them, and a municipality is a district governed by a local council.

From about the year 1250, Rethymno was the seat of a Latin diocese named Retimo. A diocese is a church region led by a bishop. A seat is the town where that bishop is based. Today, an Arkadi monastery tour adds a town with a church past of its own.

The Great Gate, also called Porta Guora, and Piazza Rimondi are among the monuments of the town. Piazza is the Italian word for a town square. A monument is a place kept to remember the past, such as a gate. An Arkadi monastery tour can set the monastery’s story beside these town landmarks.

Rethymno holds a festival on 7-8 November in memory of the destruction of Arkadi Monastery. A festival is a public event held on set days to mark something. Through that festival, the town links itself to the monastery’s story. An Arkadi monastery tour connects to the same memory.

• Wine: The Venetian Loggia, an open-sided hall, hosts a wine festival each year in early July.
• Income: Tourism is now the main source of income for the city.
• Uprising: Arkadi Monastery became a major centre of resistance against Ottoman rule in the Cretan Revolt of 1866-1869.

Rather than surrender, the defenders set off barrels of gunpowder stored inside the monastery. Gunpowder is a black powder that explodes when lit. The event became known as the Holocaust of Arkadi and won sympathy for the Cretan cause across Europe.

What does Mount Ida add to an Arkadi monastery tour?

An Arkadi monastery tour brings up Mount Ida, a mountain with three names: Idha, Idi and Ita. Within Crete, Ida belongs to the Rethymno regional unit, an area much like a county. All three names point to one and the same mountain.

A saddle, a low dip between peaks, joins the summit to neighbouring Mount Agathias on the east side. It lies at 2,321 metres. The Skinakas Observatory of the University of Crete sits on the secondary peak of Skinakas, at 1750 metres. An observatory is a site for studying the sky.

Vromonero Plateau lies beneath Skinakas Peak and holds a grove of holly and maple trees. A grove is a small patch of woodland. The plateau, the Halasia Gorge access road and the start at Krousonas form a Natura 2000 protected area. Nature also forms part of the story around an Arkadi monastery tour.

Minoans, an early Cretan civilisation, and Hellenes, or ancient Greeks, alike honoured the Idaean cave. It was called the cave of the Goddess. Votive seals and ivories, which are objects given to a god, have been found inside the cave. Such old sites add depth to the background of an Arkadi monastery tour.

• Metal workers: Legend makes Ida the home of the Dactyls, a race of ancient metal workers.
• Zeus: Another legend places the birth of Zeus at Psychro Cave, set on the Lasithi Plateau.
• Dante: In Canto XIV of his Inferno, a poem, Dante pictures an old man living inside Mount Ida.

The whole massif, meaning the full mountain mass, is called Psiloritis. Peaks, a plateau, caves and legends all belong to this one mountain world. An Arkadi monastery tour gains a wider setting from that world, because Crete holds more than one story.

What does Eleutherna add to an Arkadi monastery tour?

An Arkadi monastery tour can add the ruins of Eleutherna. This ancient city stands about 8 km north east of Arkadi Monastery. The site adds a second story of Crete to a visit at the monastery. A monastery is a religious house where monks live.

Eleutherna flourished from the Dark Ages until Byzantine times. The Dark Ages are an early period of Greek history. Byzantine times are the later Christian Roman era. Archaeologists, who study the past by digging, have worked there since 1984 in a University of Crete project. An Arkadi monastery tour gains depth from this history.

Dorians, an early people, settled the city on a steep ridge. The ridge was naturally fortified, which means the land itself defended it. The city lay on a natural crossroads between Kydonia and Knossos. In 220 BC Eleutherna set off the Lyttian War by blaming the Rhodians for a leader’s murder.

Roman villas, baths and public buildings show Eleutherna prospered until the earthquake of 365 CE. A villa is a country house, and CE marks years after year one. A public building was a place built for the whole town. The Roman years form one more chapter in the story of an Arkadi monastery tour.

• Church: Bishop Euphratas built a large basilica, a hall-style church, at Eleutherna in the mid-seventh century.
• Ending: Raids by Harun Al-Rashid and an earthquake in 796 led to the site’s final abandonment.
• Discovery: The Archaeological Institute of America named the Orthi Petra find of four women a top 10 discovery.

The Museum of Ancient Eleutherna, linked to the site, was inaugurated in June 2016. Inaugurated means formally opened to the public. Together, the ruins and the monastery give an Arkadi monastery tour a wider view of Crete’s long past.

What does Margarites bring to an Arkadi monastery tour?

An Arkadi monastery tour gains background from Margarites, a village in Western Crete. Margarites lies 27 kilometres from Rethymno town. Its altitude, meaning its height above sea level, is 300 metres. The village has its own craft, church and history to add to the story.

Margarites is the biggest pottery centre in Western Crete. Pottery means objects made from baked clay. Today the local potters mainly make souvenirs for the visitors who come to the village. That living craft is one more reason to know the village when reading about an Arkadi monastery tour.

Gavriil Marinakis, the legendary abbot of Arkadi Monastery, came from the village of Margarites. An abbot leads a monastery, the shared home of its monks. This link joins the village directly to the monastery. So Margarites belongs in any Arkadi monastery tour story.

The Kallergis and Prikosiridis revolt against the Venetians used the village as its base in 1333. A revolt is an uprising against rulers. After the revolt was put down, the Venetians set the village on fire. At the end of the independence struggle in 1829-30, Margarites became the seat of the Cretan Council.

• Recent count: A census, an official count of people, found 269 residents in the Margarites community in 2011.
• Older count: The census of 1900 recorded 986 people living in the village of Margarites.
• Old workshops: Livadi, a spot south of the village, held workshops that made everyday clay vessels until the mid-1970s.

The church of Agios Ioannis Theologos in the village was painted with frescoes in 1383. A fresco is a picture painted on wet plaster, and Agios is the Greek word for saint. Such a church adds depth to an Arkadi monastery tour background.

What does Venetian Crete add to an Arkadi monastery tour?

An Arkadi monastery tour gains useful background from the Venetian period, when Venice ruled Crete. Under that rule the island carried the official name Kingdom of Candia. The island took the name Candia from its capital, the city now called Heraklion.

The Venetian story on an Arkadi monastery tour begins with a sale. Boniface of Montferrat was not able to enforce control of the island. He sold his rights to Venice instead. Giacomo Tiepolo then became the first governor of Crete, with the title duke of Crete. A duke is a noble ruler.

A charter for sending Venetian colonists to Crete was proclaimed in Venice on 10 September 1211. A charter is an official written order from a state. The first colonist wave of 132 nobles and 45 burghers left Venice on 20 March 1212. Burghers were townspeople of a city, not nobles.

About 10,000 Venetians moved to Crete during the first century of Venetian rule. Crete exported wheat and malmsey, a sweet wine, under that rule. Settlement and trade went on side by side. These details show a settled colony with active trade. That is the wider setting for an Arkadi monastery tour.

• Provinces: Early in the 14th century, four provinces replaced the six original ones, close to the modern prefectures.
• Uprisings: Twenty-seven uprisings or conspiracies, meaning open revolts or secret plans, are documented during Venetian rule on Crete.
• Name: Modern Greek historians call the Venetian period of Crete the Venetocracy, meaning Venetian rule.

Rulers, settlers, trade and uprisings all appear in the record of Venetian Crete. That record sets the background that places an Arkadi monastery tour in the island’s long story. Dates, titles and numbers from that time are recorded in the history of Crete.

What does Ottoman Crete add to an Arkadi monastery tour?

An Arkadi monastery tour belongs to the wider story of Ottoman rule on Crete. One chapter of that story is the siege of Candia, the city now called Heraklion. That long siege lasted 21 years, from 1648 to 1669.

Early in the siege, Ottoman forces cut off the water supply to the Venetian-held capital. Venetian-held means that Venice ruled the city at that time. Lord Byron called the long siege of Candia “Troy’s rival”. That compares it with the ancient war of Troy, a story told in Greek myth.

The last stage of the siege gives an Arkadi monastery tour its background. In 1666 the Ottomans sent a final great expedition under the Grand Vizier himself, the sultan’s chief minister. In 1667 a Venetian military engineer, Andrea Barozzi, defected, which means he changed sides. He revealed Candia’s weak spots.

An Arkadi monastery tour looks at an island whose capital, Candia, changed hands on 27 September 1669. On that day Francesco Morosini surrendered Candia to Grand Vizier Ahmed Köprülü. Under the surrender terms, Christians were allowed to leave Candia with whatever they were able to carry. That day ended the siege.

• Population: Crete had about 260,000 people before the war, and about 80,000 remained by 1677.
• Settlers: The Ottomans never brought settlers to Crete from elsewhere, so the island kept its own people.
• Egyptian control: The island stayed under Egyptian control until 1840, when full Ottoman authority returned.

The siege’s effort and cost added to the decline of the Ottoman Empire. That fact shows why one city’s long struggle matters well beyond the island of Crete. Anyone planning an Arkadi monastery tour can read the island’s later history with this background in mind.

What does the Amari Valley add to an Arkadi monastery tour?

An Arkadi monastery tour is easier to place with the Amari Valley in mind. This fertile valley lies on the foothills of Mount Ida and Mount Kedros. It gives the monastery and its story a wider setting that is well worth knowing.

The Amari basin sits five to six hundred metres above sea level. The basin lies in south-east Rethymno, a regional unit, which is a Greek administrative area. The valley lies between the Ida massif, or Psiloritis, in the east and Mount Kedros in the west. A massif is a block of mountains.

Unlike the bare peaks above it, the valley has plenty of water and plants. Farmers have long worked the valley, and olive and fruit trees grow there. This green, farmed land gives an Arkadi monastery tour a wider rural setting. The valley looks quite different from the high ground around it.

In the late Bronze Age, the period of early metal tools, Phaistos spread into the Amari Valley. That growth included a settlement at Monastiraki. The valley was also a centre of resistance to the Germans, who held Crete during the occupation. This past gives an Arkadi monastery tour added depth.

• Farming school: A farming school opened in the valley in 1927, in the buildings of a former monastery.
• Lotus Land: British agents gave the valley this nickname because of its beauty and its supportive locals.
• Mountain villages: Gerakari, Gourgouthi and Kardaki are three of the villages known as the Kedros villages.

The men who abducted General Kreipe spent a couple of nights at a sheepfold in the valley. A sheepfold is a simple shelter for sheep. Abducted means taken away by force. Local stories like this give an Arkadi monastery tour a fuller historical background.

What does the Fortezza add to an Arkadi monastery tour?

An Arkadi monastery tour tells one part of Cretan history, and the Fortezza adds the Venetian chapter. The Italian word for fortress is Fortezza. The Fortezza is the fortress of Rethymno, a Cretan city with a long past.

The history behind an Arkadi monastery tour in Crete starts long before the fortress. Paleokastro hill, which means Old Castle, was once the acropolis of ancient Rhithymna. An acropolis is the high, defended part of an ancient city. Beside the hill lay Castrum Rethemi, a Byzantine settlement with square towers and two gates.

A fortification is a wall or building made for defence. A line of fortifications around Rethymno began to be built on 8 April 1540. The architect Michele Sanmicheli designed the city walls, which were finished around 1570. Those two dates frame the Venetian chapter that the Fortezza adds to an Arkadi monastery tour.

The Fortezza had too little room for the entire city. Instead, it became a citadel, a fortress that guards a city, and it housed the Venetian administration. Townspeople were meant to enter the fortress only if the Ottomans invaded. The Ottomans ruled a large empire.

• Main gate: The main gate stands on the east side, between St Nicolas and St Paul Bastions.
• Smaller gates: Two smaller gates open on the west and north sides of the fortress.
• Later years: After World War II the houses inside were demolished, but the fortress walls were left intact.

Under Venetian rule, Rethymno ranked third among Cretan cities, after Heraklion and Chania. Pairing the Fortezza with an Arkadi monastery tour gives a fuller picture of Cretan history. Each place adds another layer to the long story of the island of Crete.

What does the Idaean Cave add to an Arkadi monastery tour?

An Arkadi monastery tour gains ancient depth from the Idaean Cave. Minoans and Hellenes, the ancient Greeks, alike revered this cave and called it the “cave of the Goddess”. In Greek times, the cave was rededicated, meaning devoted anew, to Zeus.

Objects from inside the Idaean Cave add real evidence to an Arkadi monastery tour. Votive seals and ivories have been found there. Votive means offered to a god. Like the Dictaean cave, the Idaean Cave had a reputation as a place of initiations. Initiations are ceremonies that welcome people into a sacred group.

Coins of nearby Axos frequently show a tripod, a three-legged stand. The tripod is a symbol tied to a possible oracle at the cave. An oracle is a place where people sought answers from a god. Such coins give an Arkadi monastery tour a story from the ancient past of Crete.

Myth adds another layer to the Mount Ida story. A myth is an old tale of gods and heroes. Rhea left the infant Zeus to be nursed by Amaltheia at Mount Ida in Crete. Mount Ida is also home to the Dactyls, a legendary race of ancient metal workers. Legend runs deep on Ida.

• Ankhiale: In one version of the Dactyl myth, she goes to the Idaean Cave to give birth.
• Other caves: Zeus was worshipped in Crete at caves at Knossos, Ida and Palaikastro.
• Figurines: Human figurines, or small statues, came from only two sacred caves: Psychro and the Mount Ida sanctuary.

Ancient accounts name three possible caves for the upbringing of Zeus. They are the Idaean Cave, a cave with the same name, and the Dictaean cave. That open question leaves an Arkadi monastery tour with a lasting ancient mystery to discuss.

What does Preveli Monastery add to an Arkadi monastery tour?

An Arkadi monastery tour covers one Cretan monastery. Preveli Monastery offers readers a second site to compare with it. Preveli stands on Crete’s southern coast, within the Rethymno region. It is known for its monastery.

A monastery is the dwelling place of a community of monks. Preveli is a Greek Orthodox community, part of the Christian church. The monastery is spread over two main building complexes. Here, a complex means a group of buildings. That layout makes a useful comparison for anyone reading about an Arkadi monastery tour.

The two complexes have very different stories. The lower monastery, which honours St. John the Baptist, lies in ruins today. The upper, rear monastery of St. John the Theologian is the one in operation today. Together, the ruined part and the working part show how a monastery site changes over time.

Preveli also had a wider role in local life than prayer alone. Over the centuries it grew into a religious and cultural centre for the local population. The buildings of the upper monastery have been heavily restored, meaning repaired and brought back. That history gives an Arkadi monastery tour a useful point of comparison.

• War memory: Monuments to the monastery’s Second World War work include ones paid for by rescued Australian former soldiers.
• Australian link: Corporal Geoff Edwards settled the hamlet of Margaret River in Western Australia and called it Prevelly.
• Wine link: A small premium wine producer in the Margaret River region also bears the name Preveli.

Preveli adds a southern coast, a split monastery site and a story that reaches Australia. Each Cretan monastery has its own setting, buildings and past. These contrasts help readers judge any Arkadi monastery tour with a wider view of the whole island.

What questions come up about an Arkadi monastery tour?

An Arkadi monastery tour prompts four plain questions about the island of Crete. They cover the airport and its history, plus the climate in each season. They also cover the regional unit that holds the place, and the large city of Heraklion.

Which airport serves an Arkadi monastery tour?

Heraklion airport has a long history that reaches back to the 1940s. The site saw the Battle of Heraklion in 1941. Civilian traffic resumed in the autumn of 1946. The first small terminal was then erected in 1947, one year later.

Which season suits an Arkadi monastery tour?

At the Chania Airport (Souda) station, the April average high is 19.9 °C. At the same Chania Airport (Souda) station, July has an average high of 30.5 °C. In October, the station records an average rainfall of 61.5 mm. These figures show how warmth and rain change.

Which regional unit holds an Arkadi monastery tour?

Crete has four regional units, and Rethymno is one of them. A regional unit is an area set up for local government. The city of Rethymno had 34,085 residents in the 2021 census. The 2011 Kallikratis reform created the Rethymno regional unit out of the former prefecture.

Which port city lies east of an Arkadi monastery tour?

Heraklion is Crete’s biggest city, and it also serves as the island’s administrative capital. Its wider metropolitan area has 211,370 residents. The Venetian wall around Heraklion has seven bastions, which are strong corners that jut out. The wall is up to 40 metres thick in places.