Westward of the estuary of the Kourtaliotis River, in a green landscape, suddenly you see Kato Preveli Monastery, built next to a small river . The monastery is desolate now. It is catholic is consecrated to John the Baptist and the bell is dated back to 1594. After 3 km, we see Piso Monastery of Preveli, which is the most important. Its catholic is consecrated to John Theologian the Evangelist and its bell is dated back to 1692. It is built on a rocky location with such a nice view that many travelers come just to admire it.



The monastery was founded in the 16th or 17th century. The church was built in 1836 in the years of the Venetian Occupation. It was destroyed in 1866 and renovated in 1911. In 1900 the today's abbot's quarters was constructed and is surrounded by 20 cells, while the old one was changed into a hospice. The monastery took part in all the liberating struggles and the revolutions of the Cretans. In the history of recent years, during the battle of Crete it constituted the centre of escape for the allied armed forces. In the monastery there is a golden Cross by holy wood and precious stones . The museum of the monastery has many ecclesiastical scripts, sacerdotal vestments, the sigil of Gregory the 5th for the declaration that the monastery inhered to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1789, and library.