The Way from the Main Portal to the Ascent to the Upper Town

Starting from the main portal we proceed along the main street toward the square of Christos Elkomenos. After a few meters we come to a small, steep stairway on the left hand side. This leads to a private house. Next we come to a small street which, after about seven meters, turns to the left, passes under a superstructure built over the street, and then leads to an old double church. Each of these ways ends as a cul de sac.

Only the third uphill street on the left provides the shortest route up to the ascent to the upper town. Passing by a street to the right which runs parallel to the main street, we come to an open area bordered along its upper edge by a walled garden with large olive trees. Our path travels uphill along this garden, and then joins another walkway, which we follow to the left. After just a few meters we find ourselves on the route that connects the northern gate in the western wall with the ascent to the upper town.

The route from the main square up to the ascent to the upper town goes through the passage above the campanile of Christos Elkomenos, and along the north side of the church of Panagia Myrtidiotissa. From a point near the apses of this church a path leads uphill, and turns to the right at the level of some large eucalyptus trees. It then takes us onto a narrow square surrounded by hotel buildings. Along the edge of the hotel a steep path leads uphill, past the ruins of a double church, to the point of ascent to the upper town.

It is worthwile to walk along the path that runs parallel to the base of the cliff, and connects the northwestern portal and bastion with the ascent to the upper town. From here we can see the places where the roofs of the houses rested against the face of the cliff. From the height of the tiles that are still attached to the cliff, we can see that these houses were once four and five story buildings, though today all that remains is the ground plan. We can also see the remains of the cisterns of these houses, which, in some cases, were hewn out of the very rock of the precipice