Kelia Koules, Fodele
Fodele area was a very important passage during the Venetian and Turkish Era, which made the occupiers build towers and forts at almost every peak. The Turks wanted to fully control the passage of Fodele and simultaneously monitor the bay (the current beach of Fodele), where the Greek ships often beached for supporting the rebels. After the failed Cretan Revolution in 1866, the Ottomans built more than 100 towers, called koules, to control the resisting rebels.
One of these Turkish towers was the koule of Kelia built at the position Koprokefala, just above Fodele beach (south of the beach) overlooking the sea. Today some ruins of the fort remind of its glory past, although completely abandoned by the local government. Accessing the fort is very hard due to wired fences of the local properties.
At the east part of the same hill we meet the chapel dedicated to Saint John, which once served as a monastery, built in a lush green ravine with plane trees. The cells (kelia) of the monks gave their name to the area.
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