Five Virgins chapel:
Argiroupolis, 6km south of Episkopi in Rethymnon province. The
name meaning silver city. The village is built over the ancient
city of Lappa, in origin an Dorian settlement, destroyed of the
Romans in 67 BC, rebuilt in 27 BC with permission from Augustus who
also gave the city a water reservoir, razed again of the Saracens
in the ninth century, recovered during the Venetians to an
important centre. In the upper village north of the plateia there
are remains of Lappa and Roman mosaic as well as a fine portal with
the words «Omnia Mundi Fumus et Umbra» (All Things in This World
are Smoke and Shadow). Under the lower village there is an area of
tavernas with springwater cascading down the terraced area down to
the Asigonia road. Access from the Asigonia road – 1 km from the
juntion north of Argiroupoli where also the Kato Poros road is
forking out.
Ancient Lappas necropolis lies to the north of the town at a
site known as the Five Virgins, after a nearby chapel. Here
hundreds of tombs have been cut into the rock cliffs. The chapel
takes its name from five young women put to death by the Romans in
the third century for secretly practising Christianity in the
tombs. The city commemorates their martyrdom on the first Tuesday
after Easter when local shepherds bring their lambs to the shrine
to be blessed and freshly milked sheeps milk is boiled on the site
and drunk by those attending. There is also an gigantic old plane
tree said to be about 2000 year old.
How to get there:
Rethymno on the New National Road to the west and turn off after
about 14km at the Asigonia/Episkopi junction by the Petres beach
and follow the signs to the south. It is also possible to take the
Old National Road through the inland over Atsipopoulo to Episkopi
southern end and take south to Argiroupoli
Recommended parking along the road north of Argiroupolis just
after the junctions for Kato Poros and Asigonia. The old cobbled
path down to from Lappa to the necropolis is crossing the road
here, N35 17.471 E24 20.279 Also possible to park alongside the
Kato Poros road at N35 17.495 E24 20.390 – just for small cars.
The cache:
The cache area is near the big, old plane tree. There is also a
resting place by the plane and running water. The cache is a Curver
box 7,5x10x15 cm wrapped in a plastic bag.