Moni Agiou Nikolaou

The 15th-century Moni Agiou Nikolaou is the first monastery you reach from Kastraki, 1km from the village square. Many visitors, keen to press on to the top of the massif, skip it altogether, but it’s well worth making the steep climb up. Inside, it’s very cosy and snug. Its small church, scooped into the rock, holds exceptional frescoes painted by the Cretan monk Theophanes Strelizas, including a gorgeous depiction of The Naming of Animals by Adam in Paradise.