WEATHER
Anogeia
Light Showers
11°C
Wind: 15 Southwest
Rethymno
16°C
Wind: 27 West
Spili
14°C
Wind: 06 West
Fragma Potamon
17°C
Wind: 13 West
courtesy of: www.meteo.gr
Agios Konstantinos - Armeni
Length: 15 km
Estimated time: 5 hours
Suggested period: January - December
Difficulty: None - relatively difficult in winter in the river-bed of Kalonikiti
Monopari
Monopari village belongs to the municipal office of Ano Valsamonero. It is located 1.5 km far from Ano Valsamonero, in the south, on a 380 m altitude. It is an old dorp, which is mentioned in all Venetian censuses of the 16th and 17th centuries.
The village's name derives from the name of a Venetian fort called Bonriparo or Belriparo, which was founded by the Genovese chief-pirate, Enrico Pescatore, in 1206. Local people used to call it Monopari, a name that was kept for this dorp.
During the Venetian era, the village hosted the offices of a "kastelania" (a type of Venetian administration). The fort was mentioned by Spratt, who described the route from Rethymno to Monopari and ancient Lappa. He mentioned that at the fort's site he noticed traces of an ancient town and he supported that the rampart walls are medieval. Sanders referred to this castle as a Venetian one, but he noticed traces of previous ramparts and Roman shells. Similarly, Spanakis mentioned this fort as a Venetian one and supported that Monopari was the tower of Melissinoi, which was built in 1185 on the ruins of ancient Ionia, on a high and precipitous location with a long Byzantine wall and three tall towers with a marble gate.
Sources:
Committee for Touristic Promotion