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The peninsula of Akrotiri
is part of the province of Kydonia and
located to the east of Chania. It is rather
barren and its northern end is lined by
hills.
The (military and civil)
airport of Chania is located on the peninsula,
about 13 km from Chania. There is no bus
service between the airport and Chania.
The peninsula also houses many military
installations belonging to NATO as well
as an American naval base.
Akrotiri has few coastal
resorts but some nice beaches which are
popular at weekends with the inhabitants
of Chania but fairly quiet during the
week: Marathi, Kalathas
and Stavros,
a rather soulless village with a beautiful
sandy cove (where the beach scenes in
Alexis Zorbas were filmed).
Akrotiri also has a few
monasteries which are becoming popular
with visitors: the impressive Agia Triada
was founded in the beginning of the 17th
century and was a prominent religious
school until about 40 years ago. It is
well worth a visit but its atmosphere
can be rather spoilt by the tour buses
which alight there. Following a poor road
for 4 km to the north of Agia Triada,
the road ends at the 16th century Moni
Gouverneto (Our Lady of the Angels). The
building itself is quite plain but the
church inside has a nice sculpted Venetian
facade.
From Moni Gouverneto a good path heads down towards
the north and the ruins of Moni Katholiko. On the way, after about
10 minutes walk you will pass the Bear Cave. It is a large chamber
with a massive stalagmite in the middle resembling the shape of
a bear. In antique times this cave was dedicated to the goddess
Artemis
.After walking down for another 15 minutes you arrive at the 11th century monastery
of Katholiko . It was
abandoned in the 16th century because of the numerous raids by pirates. The monastery
building spans a small gorge with a massive stone bridge. It is a quiet and cool
place to rest.
From Katholiko, a small footpath follows the gorge to the sea where it is possible
to have a swim from the rocks.
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