Agia Roumeli is the small coastal village that you reach after walking through the Samaria Gorge. A frequent boat service takes you directly to Loutro and Hora Sfakion. Agia Roumeli has various hotels, rooms, and tavernas. In May 1941, the Greek government of Emmanuel Tsouderos and King George left Greece from here when Crete fell to the Nazis. Agia Roumeli was destroyed by the Turks in 1867 after the battle of Aradena. However, the Turkish did not manage to penetrate the defence of the canyon where all the women and children were protected. The same had happened in 1866. The ancient Greek site of Tara, is on the left (east) hill as you exit the gorge. Many of the finds from Tara are in the Archaeological Museum of Chania. Tara flourished in Greek, Roman and Byzantine times. It was an independent city and it had a glass producing factory. In Agia Roumeli are the Byzantine churches of the Panagia, Agia Triada, and Agios Pavlos, a Turkish castle, and a beautiful beach.
This text is cited Nov 2002 from the Crete TOURnet URL below, which contains image.
On the west side of the south end of Samaria Gorge, on top of a hill,
are the remains of a Turkish castle.
The Byzantine church of Agia Triada is closer to the Samaria Gorge.
It had many exterior rosette decorations, some of them surviving today. Two old
graves are attached on the outside walls of the church.
The Byzantine church of the Panagia in Agia Roumeli is a very important church. It is near the beach, after the end of the modern village and before the canyon becomes visible. The church is easily seen from the boats approaching from Sfakia. It was a very old, three-aisled basilica built with very large stones. Only part of the church remains today and the larger original church can be seen around the more recent Byzantine one. In the middle of the church there are traces of mosaics in white, black and red, with geometric motifs. It is believed that parts of the church had no roof. This is one of the earliest basilicas in Crete and the mosaic that can be seen today in the yard of the newer church, surrounded by the walls of the older church, may come from an even earlier Greek temple of the first century B.C.
This text is cited Nov 2002 from the Crete TOURnet URL below, which contains images.
You may reach the beautiful Byzantine church of Agios Pavlos by way of a footpath going east from the village of Agia Roumeli. It takes about 30 minutes to reach the church on an easy path that runs beside the sea. The church is on the spot where Saint Paul reportedly baptised people on his way to Rome. It is a very picturesque small church, built on the beach using stones from the beach itself. This is why it is not easy to see the church from far. The church has cruciform architecture with an equidimensional cross and a dome over the centre and is in a superb natural setting. The church was built around the tenth century and the frescoes probably date from the thirteenth century.
This text is cited Nov 2002 from the Crete TOURnet URL below, which contains images.
In front of Agia Roumeli there is a refreshing pebble beach in a superb
setting with the mountains and the mountain caves right behind it. To the east
of Agia Roumeli, near the church of Agios Pavlos, there is a very good beach in
a similar setting.
Tel: +30 28250 91292
Fax: +30 28250 91292
Tel: +30 210 3247512
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