Crete-Discover the Unknown Crete

C H A P T E R 4
The Venetian
style of
architecture
and decoration
continued to be
adopted by
local craftsmen
even after
Venetian rule
ended
Mysteriously dark, the church of
Panayia Hodegetria ("the Virgin who shows
the true path") is entirely frescoed.
Blackened with smoke from the candles, it
houses a precious icon of the Madonna from
the fourteenth century:
from the image there
hang hundreds of silver
ex votos - eyes, hands,
feet, figures of men,
women and children
invoking mercy - held by
fine chains so that they
form a wide, tiered skirt
of metal right down to
the floor.
The third church of Lithines is dedicated
to the Ayia Triada and to Ayios Haralambos.
It has two apses and dates back to 1886. Its
beautiful portals with relief sculptures were
probably salvaged from an older Venetian
building.
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After Lithines the road drops steeply
towards the Libyan sea where we find the
coastal village of Makryyialos with a small
fishing port. Two ancient constructions have
been found here, a Roman villa facing the
sea and a Minoan villa on a flat area of land
higher up, both hidden among the modern
houses.