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The Monastery of the Holy Trinity stands among its own olive groves, and although its monastic community has dwindled to just a few members, its lovely old buildings are gradually being restored. Visitors are welcome, and the monks will happily sell you some of their home-grown olive oil, which is of high quality.

The Convent of the Source of Life, like so many Cretan monasteries, looks more like a castle than a religious dwelling. It is relatively new, built in 1863, and has a studio in which icons are painted using age-old techniques.

Built during the 17th century to replace a more remote monastery building, Moni Preveli’s peaceful dormitories and cloisters look inward, onto an 18th-century courtyard with a 19th-century church and a small museum. Exhibits include lavishly ornamented vestments, church silver, censers and icons.

The Toplou monastery’s forbidding exterior is deceptive, for like many Greek monasteries it was fortified against bandits during the Middle Ages. Inside, however, is a different world of serene, flower-filled courtyards and cloisters, and a church that houses one of the greatest Cretan works of religious art, the icon Lord, Thou Art Great by Ioannis Kornaros.

The most important Byzantine-era church in Crete, Panagia Kera, was built in the 13th and 14th centuries. The church is dedicated to the Virgin and to saints Anthony and Anna, and is adorned with expressive murals depicting the two saints, as well as 14 scenes portraying the secret life of the Virgin Mary after Christ’s Crucifixion and Resurrection.