Winter Stories · October to November · History
The courtyard at Moni Odigitria
A fortified monastery in the hills south of Matala, with a mulberry tree over the table and the bougainvillea still out in November.
Moni Odigitria sits in the dry hills south of Matala, about forty minutes from the house by the coast road. It is one of the oldest monasteries on the south coast, walled and towered, and it is still a working one. Visitors are welcome in the daytime; the gate is usually open until early afternoon.
The courtyard is the reason to linger. A mulberry tree has been trained over a table by the wall, the bougainvillea keeps flowering into November, and the monks' olive press, flour mill and wine press are kept as they were used. There is a small church with icons and, in the tower, the story of Xopateras, the monk who held it against the Turks in 1829.
From the monastery a track leads down to the Agiofarago gorge and, after an hour's walk, to the beach at its mouth. In winter the walk is the right temperature and the beach is empty. Take water and ask us about the road before you go.