Avdellas

Avdellas is a village in the prefecture of Rethymno located approximately 35 km east of the city of Rethymno. Built at an altitude of 440 meters upon the road connecting Perama and Anogeia, Avdellas has been declared rural semi-mountainous settlement.

The village was probably named after its first dweller, whose surname was Avdellas. Another version mentions that the name comes from the word vdella (=leech).

Avdellas is mentioned in 1577 by Barozzi, by Kastrofilakas and Basilicata, while it was recorded in the Turkish census of 1671.

On January 5 in 1826, Cretan revolutionaries, under the leadership of Stavralis Niotis and An. Palmetis, attacked 300 Turks and killed their leaders, Pentevis and Dervisis. On September 4 in 1943, the German occupation forces arrested and executed almost all the men of Avdellas and of the neighboring villages, of Agios Mamas, Avdanites and Kalivos as well.

Attractions for the guests of Avdellas are the two monasteries, unfortunately only the remaining ruins, and the memory of various legends in the area. According to Paul Faure, the French philhellene archaeologist, north of the settlement at location Kellia there was a monastery around the cavernous church of the Candlemas. Nowadays, there are still remains of the cells there. Ruins of cells survive at the site of Monastiria as well, near the temple of the Lord Christ.