Akrotíri - Khaniá

17km/10.5 mi northeast of Khaniá, on the Akrotíri peninsula, is the monastery of Ayía Triáda (1631), and 4 km/2.5 mi north of this the monastery of Gouvernéto (1548). Gouvernéto, like Ayía Triáda, has a Renaissance façade showing Venetian influence. An icon in the porch depicts the legend of St John of Gouvernéto, who, fleeing from the Near East, landed on the shore here and, with 98 companions, lived in a cave until a hunter accidentally shot him. The cave can still be seen.

From Gouvernéto a broad rocky path (to the right) goes down to some ruined buildings in front of a spacious cave, called the Bear's Cave from the form of a stalagmite in it. The cave is thought to have been a cult site in Minoan times, and in the classical period was dedicated to the cult of Artemis.

At the entrance to the cave is the little chapel of the Panayía Arkoudiótissa (Mother of God of the Bear's Cave). From here a narrow path winds its way down to the abandoned monastery of Katholikó, with the cave of St John of Gouvernéto (to the left, shortly before the monastery doorway). The rock-cut church has a Venetian front wall.