<The village of Koufos on Crete
The village of Koufos lies in a fertile valley in an area filled with orange trees. It is accessible from the village of Gerani on the coast via the Gerani - Loutraki - Psathogiannos - Koufos route or from the other side via the Chania - Oasis - Agia Lake - Alikianos - Koufos route. It is a small village with strange shaped and large olive trees and orange groves along the roads. There are also pear and lemon trees. The large church in the village is called the Holy Apostles church. It is cross shaped and has a large dome in the middle. The small church of Saint Catherine is situated nearby a little south of the Holy Apostles church. There are not that many houses and some of them are apparently very old (Venetian or Turkish, with high arches) and have turned into ruins.
In the small village is the restored Byzantine church of Agios Ioannis. Unfortunately we have not seen it and only because we did not know in advance that it would be there. But just before the entrance of the village (if you come from Alikianos) there was a sign with a name and an arrow on it pointing to a path in a field and I suspect that you can find it there. In 2011 - one year later - we did find the Byzantine church of Zoodohos Pigi though, which is just around the corner from the village on the way to Alikianos. We believe it to be the same church because it is called by different names.
The Byzantine church of Zoodohos Pigi just outside the village of Koufos dates from the 14th century. It is situated among the orange trees on the left side of the road as you go north from Koufos and take the exit Alikianos and Chania. The Zoohodos Pigi church is also known as the Ai Yannis Kyr-Yannis Church. It is indicated by a brown sign along the side of the road. You can already see it from the road. The first time we drove past it because we thought it was a new church. Instead the church was partially restored. It is set about 25 meters from the road. Inside the church are frescoes of saints and of the Virgin Maria, but unfortunately the church was closed at the time of our visit and some pieces were closed with wooden planks. I still made an attempt and took a photograph through a hole, but unfortunately none of the frescoes can be seen on it. Around the church they were doing excavations. There were graves uncovered and there were pieces of bones and skulls piled up.
For Byzantine concepts it is rather a large church as it now stands and it was built on the remains of an older church from the 10th century which was destroyed in an earthquake in 1303. On the outside above the entrance (partly) a fresco of the Virgin Mary survived. For those of you that are interested: Zoodohos Pigi means "life giving source". At its time the Zoodohos Pigi church was quite important.
Here in Koufos in the local tavern we wanted just to eat a light snack. Breakfast or lunch, it was a little in between. When we asked if they were serving breakfast, the answer was "yes" but when we asked if they could make something with eggs, they first checked if there were any eggs and the answer was "no". They proposed the home made crepes with chicken of which we ordered two servings. They tasted well, and we also got a free plate of local cheese, which was also pretty good. The downside was the bread, because it was no bread, but those hard lumps (kind of big) of croutons that you normally put in dakos (another Greek dish) so they soften up. Shame about the bread, but no complaints about the rest of the food.
Our verdict: a 7 out of 10