Church of Saint John at Vai

On the hillside just before the palm grove of Vai, province Sitia, we meet the picturesque chapel of St. John the Theologian.

Saint John is a typical temple of east Crete; it is single aisled and quite old. It belongs to the neighboring monastery of Toplou.

From the temple, the view to the palm grove and the wider valley is very nice. The church is very old but the interior does bear any frescoes.

It has a simple wooden icon screen while the exterior hosts an old tomb that probably belongs to the owner or to the church donor. Above the door we see a stone inscription, probably coming from the neighboring ancient Itanos, however it is impossible to read its writing.

Whoever put the stone there, installed it upside down and inverted the letters!