The province of Pediada hosts one of the most important religious parks in Crete, with numerous painted temples and deserted monasteries scattered all around. Prominent in number and aesthetic value of monuments is the area around today's Episkopi, which was the seat of the Diocese as its name reveals.
Kaminos is a very fertile valley with thousands of olive trees belonging to three settlements: Skalani, Prassa and Kallithea. Kaminos was a Medieval settlement, today disappeared, that hosted three temples; the churches of Archangel Michael, the church of Christ and the church of Saint Demetrius.
The cave of Agia Fotini is on located on Mount Louloudaki, 7km south of Avdou village, at an altitude of 760m. 35km east of Heraklion is the Avdou village, where a sign "Agia Fotini Cave - 7 km”, shows the direction. From there you enter a dirt road, which leads to a small square below the mouth of the cave. Following the steep path on foot, the visitor arrives at the entrance of the cave.
The church of Holy Trinity (Agia Triada) is located east of the village Hohlakies and close to Galifa village. It operated as the temple of a small monastery, which operated as a dependency of Agarathos monastery. An inscription testifies that the church was renovated in 1602, confirming its long history. The church does not bear frescoes, but impresses with its size.
Saint Demetrius by Galifa operated as a monastery during the Venetian Era, as evidenced even today by the dispersed traces of monk cells around. The doorway is impressive with a relief representation of Saint Demetrius on horseback. The small monastery was a dependency of Agarathos monastery.
The church of St. George Kleidas is located at a beautiful site close to Katalagari village and is the temple of a small monastery that operated here during the Venetian period, probably as a dependency of a larger monastery. The name Klidas is probably taken after the surname of the founder or owner of the land.
About one kilometer southeast of the village Skalani, Heraklion Province, at the position Aposami survives today the medieval monastery of St. Minas. Built at a very fertile area amid vineyards and olive groves endures until today the fate of abandonment and desolation as so many unknown treasures and monuments of Cretan countryside.
At the entrance of the picturesque village Aitania,.at Pediada province, Heraklion, on the way from village Episkopi we meet the picturesque church of Panagia Kardiotissa. The church is cemeterial and is dedicated to the Birth of the Virgin. It is a very picturesque church, of the many that adorn the wider region of Episkopi, where we meet many Byzantine churches.
In a rural area of Episkopi, province Pediada, by Heraklion we meet the forgotten and unknown to almost everyone St Phocas (Agios Fokas). Agios Fokas is a ruined church that nowadays has turned into a pile of stones. Only a part of the south wall is preserved today and will soon collapse.