Asites

Upper Asites and Lower Asites. The villages lie approx. 23km from Heraklion with their big part of the surrounding area on the eastern side of the mountain Psiloritis. to be covered by forest .Near to Ano Asites there is the Byzantine chapel of Agios Antonios, located in the ravine with the same name, a place of exceptional natural beauty. From here passes the European Hiking Path (E4) which leads to the shelter "Prinos" (the Mountaineering Club of Heraklion - altitude 1100 m a.s.l.) located in a forest. On the south of the village one can find the ravine of Agios Haralambos and the cave "nyhteridospilios", 100m deep within the water with lots of bats making it not visitable. Other important sights in the area are the caves "Kynigospilios" and "Siderospilia" and the perennial oak at Kouvdi. Kato Asites is a beautiful village with traditional architecture close to the monastery of Gorgolaini, one of the oldest in Crete, It was the centre of the Cretan revolution against the Turks.