Holy Church of Panagia Paraportiani

The Church of Panagia Paraportiani stands out because it is not one building, but five distinct small churches fused into a single, lumpy mass of whitewashed stone. It grew slowly over two centuries, starting in the fourteen hundreds. The structure hugs the edge of the old castle gate, or paraporti, which gave the complex its name. Local builders layered these chapels against one another until the original entrance to the medieval fortification disappeared entirely beneath the thick, rounded walls of the church.