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6

Valsamitis — The Katapola loop

A loop from Katapola to the Agios Georgios Valsamitis monastery, an ancient sanctuary with a spring oracle, via the site of Minoa.

Distance
6.5 km
Elevation gain
200 m
Duration
2:05
Difficulty
moderate
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Description

A circular route from Katapola. Two branches — one from Rachidi, the other from Minoa — merge into a single path heading to Agios Georgios Valsamitis. Starting near Katapola’s primary school, a narrow rural road skirts a water-collection dam before a path winds up the mountainside.

The monastic complex of Agios Georgios Valsamitis sits amid lush vegetation around a spring; it is a monumental early-Christian complex, originally a pre-Christian sanctuary with a renowned oracle of the springs. From Valsamitis, the return path passes the chapel of Agia Marina and descends towards Marmara, before reaching the entrance of the Minoa archaeological site and back to Katapola.

Points of interest

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Photos