1. Chania – Chrysopigi Monastery – Mournies – Koukounara mansion

After 3 km along the road from Chania to Souda w come to a turning to the right which leads to the Chrysopigi Monastery (or Zoodochos Pigi, ‘life-receiving spring’), consisting of three-aisled church surrounded by a wall.

If we continue to the west from the Chrysopigi Monastery (or return to Chania by the road along which we came and then head south), we will come, after 3.5 km to the village of Mournies, where Eleftherios Venizelos was born.

His simple stone-built house still stands there with a collection of his personal belongings in the form of a museum. Te area around the village is densely planted with olive and citrus trees.

Approximately 500m outside the village is Agia Marina, a cool oasis with plane trees, springs of running water and stone benches.

Also near the village is the famous Koukounara mansion, a building in the Venetian style with gardens, fountains and the winged lion of St Mark.

Nearby is the Monastery of St Eleutherius, a seventeenth-century building of considerable architectural interest.

Prefectures: Chania Rethymno Herakleio Lasithi