Toplou Monastery

A beautiful monastery in a secluded location. However, you should arrive early for a visit, as it is on the way to the palm-lined beach of Vai and many tour buses stop here.Admission is currently €5 (May 2025). You can see a pretty courtyard, several interior rooms, and a large icon exhibition. The monastery's organic products can be purchased in the shop.There is a lot of information about the monastery's history online, and the travel tip from Radio Crete is entertaining and interesting: radio-kreta.de/ausflugtipp-das-kloster-toplou

The monastery is famous for its icon museum, in which the great icon Megas ei Kyrie ("Almighty are you, oh Lord"), a work by the then 25-year-old painter Joannis Kornaros from 1770, is kept. This major icon is one of the most important sacred works of art of the Orthodox Greek Church and today brings numerous art lovers to the monastery.
Source: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kloster_Toplou

An enclave, even if it is now a tourist magnet. Always two sides of the same coin. An insider tip never remains a secret. A balancing act.