Panagia Kera is a small Byzantine church standing among olive and cypress trees just outside the village of Kritsa, in the Lasithi district of eastern Crete near the town of Agios Nikolaos. The whitewashed, buttressed building holds the finest and most complete set of Byzantine wall paintings on the island, covering its interior with scenes … Read more
Havgas Gorge is one of the wildest short canyons in eastern Crete, a dark slot cut into the eastern flank of the Dikti mountains in the Lasithi district. Water draining from the Katharo plateau above Kritsa has sliced a sheer channel barely a metre or two wide, broken by waterfalls, deep pools and jammed boulders. … Read more
The Katharo Plateau sits high in the Dikti mountains of eastern Crete, a remote plain of stone huts, vineyards and orchards far above the everyday coast. It lies in the Lasithi district, around eleven hundred metres above sea level, reached by a steep, winding road up from the village of Kritsa near Agios Nikolaos. Farmers … Read more
Kritsa spreads across a steep hillside in the Lasithi region of eastern Crete, its whitewashed houses and narrow lanes climbing the slope just minutes inland from the coast. This large traditional village has long been celebrated for its woven textiles, embroidery, herbs and local oil, with craft shops lining the streets. The Byzantine church of … Read more