The Martsalo is located at an area on Asteroussia Mountains between Kefali (Cape Lithino) and Agiofarago. The gorge is about two kilometers, which belongs to the hermitages of the Monastery Odegitria.
Inside the gorge there are rich vegetation and palm trees. The spectacular cliffs, home to a large number of caves that look like eagle nests in which lived many hermits in the region.
Gorge of Martsalo is very steep and rough, ending to the Libyan Sea, where there is a small, but good port. This fact gave its name to the region since the ancient Latin language "Martsalo" means good port.
The port was important at Minoan times as testified by the archaeological excavations unearthed a port settlement dating back to 1800-1600 B.C.
At the beginning of the Gorge there is in a big rock a cavernous church who used like catacomb-church. The church was abandoned for some reason while the entrance and the dome had been covered by rocks. In the mid 19th century one of the shepherds of Odigitria name Lampakis, accidentally discovers the cave temple and in it the image of the Annunciation.
The cave temple which is called "Virgin Martsaliani" and is dedicated to the "Annunciation" (this image was found in it) is very interesting because it is carved in a rock cone shaped much like an oven. It has a depth of 8 meters and a height of 10 meters to the top of the dome.
During 1866-1869, the Turks invaded vs. Martsalo to arrest the abbot of the Monastery of St. George, and destroyed all the images inside the temple.
In the gorge there are ruins of old church, which according to tradition, was dedicated to Saint Markelos and remains of small cells where the hermits lived in the area. In Martsalo rescued so far the cell of monks Saints, Parthenios and Eumenes.
The cache is closed to the cave church. Unfortunately in the gorge you don’t have good reception in GPS, so look the spoiler pictures for help.
You can always read our blog for more information about geocaching in Crete.