Things to do at Arkadi monastery

Arkadi is a working Orthodox monastery in the Rethymno foothills, about 23 km south-east of Rethymno town by car; the KTEL bus network reliably covers only the north coast road, so most visitors drive.

The site is a national symbol because of 1866: during the Ottoman siege of Crete, defenders and refugees barricaded inside the powder magazine chose to blow it up rather than surrender, killing hundreds. That event sits inside the longer arc of Venetian rule from 1204 to 1669 and Ottoman rule from 1669 to 1898.

As an active monastery, Arkadi keeps a dress code — shoulders and knees covered, as at Preveli and Toplou — and a visit is closer to a war memorial than a photogenic ruin.