- The Municipality of Heraklion revives its “Chartodiadromes… in Our Municipality” tours.
- First stop: Arkadi Monastery in Rethymno, Saturday, October 4, 2025.
- Bonus visits: Eleutherna Museum and Margarites village with lunch.
- Departure at 09:00 from Envy parking lot, Heraklion seafront.
- Cost: €27 (bus + lunch). Tours themselves remain free.
- Registrations are open until September 30, with priority given to early registrants.
From Heraklion to Rethymno: A Journey Beyond the Map
Heraklion’s cultural excursions are stretching their legs again. The much-loved “Chartodiadromes… in Our Municipality” tours—organized by the Municipality of Heraklion’s Volunteerism Department, the volunteer team Philopolis, and guided with zeal by Athina Sfakaki—are returning this autumn.
The opening act unfolds on Saturday, October 4, 2025, and takes participants outside Heraklion’s borders to Arkadi Monastery in Rethymno. Known for its dramatic role in the 1866 uprising, Arkadi is less a stop on a map and more a chapter of living history.
After Arkadi, the itinerary winds to the Museum of Eleutherna, where layers of Cretan antiquity are displayed, before ending in Margarites, a village famed for its pottery tradition. A communal Cretan meal awaits to close the day.
Sign Up Before the Map Closes
Participation in the tours remains free, while the logistics—bus ride and lunch—come at a symbolic €27. Departure is set for 09:00 sharp from the Envy parking lot on Heraklion’s coastal road.
Registrations must be completed by September 30, with seats assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. To secure a place:
- Call 2813 409 758 or 2813 409 757
- Email chronaki@heraklion.gr
About Arkadi Monastery
It’s hard to describe Arkadi and do it justice. As magnificent as the striking Venetian church is seen from outside, the beauty of its 1902 iconostasis is awe-inspiring too. To see Arkadi, you need to commit at least a couple of hours of your time. Walk carefully: this is holy ground, because the souls of 943 Greeks rest here. Take your time to discover the hidden gems: a monk’s cell, the hospice, the stables, and the memorial of the dead outside the fortified walls of the monastery, which shows you what the Cretans hold sacred:
“Nothing is more noble or glorious than dying for one’s country.”
As you enter the powder magazine at Arkadi, time stands still. Even if you are not familiar with the history of the monastery, there’s a sense of pious tranquility about the place. It’s as if the sacrifice of the Greeks is etched in stone, and with your eyes closed, you can almost feel the souls of the departed passing by.
Here’s how Victor Hugo described the Holocaust of Arkadi:
“One knows this word, Arkadian, but one hardly understands what it means. And here are some of the precise details that have been neglected. In Arkadia, the monastery on Mount Ida, founded by Heraclius, six thousand Turks attacked one hundred ninety-seven men and three hundred forty-three women and also children. The Turks had twenty-six cannons and two howitzers, the Greeks had two hundred forty rifles. The battle lasted two days and two nights; the convent had twelve hundred holes found in it from cannon fire; one wall crumbled, the Turks entered, the Greeks continued the fight, one hundred fifty rifles were down and out and yet the struggle continued for another six hours in the cells and the stairways, and at the end there were two thousand corpses in the courtyard. Finally, the last resistance was broken through; the masses of the Turks took the convent. There only remained one barricaded room that held the powder and, in this room, next to the altar, at the center of a group of children and mothers, a man of eighty years, a priest, the higumen Gabriel, in prayer… the door, battered by axes, gave and fell. The old man put a candle on the altar, took a look at the children and the women and lit the powder and spared them. A terrible intervention, the explosion, rescued the defeated…and this heroic monastery, that had been defended like a fortress, ended like a volcano.”
It’s crucial to see Arkadi, not only for its historical meaning but also because its beauty will touch your heart, revealing what Crete truly is for the people who live on these lands.