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Modern Description: The most significant monuments in this area are the cave churches on the western slope of Kerketéus, above Kallithéa. (An unsurfaced road leads up from the cemetery at the southern end of Kallithéa; after 1.7km, a left turn at the junction climbs steeply a further 2km to the church of Aghia Paraskeví, from where a footpath leads uphill 1 km east, to the first of the churches.) The church of the Panaghia Makriní sits sunk a little into the entrance of a shallow cave. The original 13th century chapel was incorporated and expanded in the 18th century, into the larger tri-conch structure with cupola which you enter first, but still preserves its original wall-paintings: their condition is deteriorating, but some of the original, intense colour is still visible in the gracious figure of the Virgin Mary, in the south east corner. At Aghia Triada, a short distance further up the path, the church, behind a simple front, is created out of the natural rock of the cave. Below the village of Kallithéa to the southeast, is the church of Aghios Charalambos with an interior extensively decorated with 18th century wall-paintings.

Info: McGilchrist's Greek Islands

(From McGilchrist’s Greek Islands, © Nigel McGilchrist 2010, excerpted with his gracious permission. Click for the books)

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