Map of Kato Kastelliana Located 65 km from Heraklion, on the south coast of Crete lies a secret: the small village of Tsoutsouros. The village can be reached from the capital following the route Heraklion - Peza - Arkalochori - Skinias - Kato Kastelliana - Tsoutsouros. Kato Kastelliana, sometimes spelled Kato Kasteliana, is a small village with a couple of churches, a war memorial, a village square and a tavern / kafenion where you can buy snacks or have a drink. Here you find the crossroads with signs where you can take the exit for Tsoutsouros. The other road goes to Viannos and Ierapetra.

When entering Kato Kastelliano from the road that leads from Tsoutsouros there is a square ancient building on your right hand side just before entering the village. It looks like a small fortress. The structure and the type of stones used in combination with the masonry seem to me more like a building that dates back to Roman times, but they are the remains of the Belvederre or Kastellos fortress. It was built with stones from the old town of Prainsos that stood in the same place. The fort has fallen apart and there were the six churches here. This fortress was built by the Byzantines in the 10th century and it dominated the western half of the Messara plain.

On the way from Kato Kastelliana to Tsoutsouros you will pass a small village with a Byzantine church with remains of frescoes. South of the village just outside the area with the houses (as you drive into the village from the south) at the foot of the Asterousia range, there is a waterfall during autumn, which is called the Richtra waterfall. Above the waterfall a new stone church dedicated to Saint Spyridon has been built. About forty years ago there were close to a 1000 people living in the village of Kato Kastelliana and nowadays the number of inhabitants has shrunk to around 250.