The next morning we take again the bus from Rethymno to Preveli.
The trip is about an hour by bus and we need to be at Preveli
before noon because the monastery closes after 12:30.The site
dates back to the Byzantine period of the island, the name Preveli
is taken from the Venetian period, during the Turkish occupation
the monastery enjoyed certain freedoms; among them the freedom
of religious art like icon painting.
Faithful to the Christian tradition and Cretan patriotism the
monks and abbots of the Preveli moni engaged in revolutionary
activity and fought in the two movements for the liberation
of Crete from the Turkish occupation 1821 and 1866-1869; and
again they volunteered to fight in the first world war and the
battle of Crete in 1941 when they fought heroically alongside
the Australian allies against the Germans.