Agios Nikolaos

If you think the sprawling village of ARCHANGELOS looks as though it has seen better times you would be just about right. Home to a dwindling leather crafts industry it now has a shabby look and, strangely, appears to have been swallowed up by the German package holiday industry. This is still the largest town on the island outside Rhodes, with about 6,000 living here. Archangelos lies on a low plain surrounded by the mountains Profitis Elias, Karavos and the hills of Kefaloti, Kastro and Anagros. The first houses at the foot of the Kastro date to 1023. The village centre is dominated by the Church of the Archangel Michael. Around it are whitewashed lanes, traditional houses with arched passageways painted in bright colours. Tavernas and bars line the single main street and the village has a 15th century Crusader castle, though little remains except the outer walls. Nearby are MALONA and MASSARI, two farming villages in the valley of Nethona River set amongst citrus groves.