From the coast west of Heraklion to the eastern foothills of Mount Psiloritis, the former province of Malevizi preserves many traces of its religious history. Small churches by the sea, chapels beside springs and ruined monasteries in gorges show how closely places of worship were tied to the landscape.

Along the coast are the Church of Panagia at Fraskia, Panagia Deligara at Ligaria and the Church of Saint Savvas at Ellinoperamata. A little further inland, the ruins of the Monastery of Saint John Farangitis lie in the Almyros Gorge. Its former main church is now known as Saint Anthony. Beside it stands the small chapel of Saint Marina, once the monastery’s cemetery chapel.

In the villages of the foothills are Panagia Kera Eleousa in Kitharida, the Jerusalem Monastery in Loutraki and Panagia Kavallara in Korfes, once a dependency of Dionysiou Monastery on Mount Athos. At Keramoutsi, the apse of the Church of Panagia preserves 14th-century frescoes. Just outside Tylissos, at Loutra, the Chapel of Zoodochos Pigi stands beside the spring associated with its dedication to the Life-Giving Spring.

At Ano Asites, the ruined Church of Saint Anthony stands at the entrance to the gorge that bears its name. From there, a path descends towards Panagia Faneromeni at Kerasia, linking two of the area’s country chapels on a single walk.