The cemetery of the ancient city of Lappa

The idyllic mountain village of Argyroupolis is located at the north-eastern foot of the White Mountains on the territory of the ancient city of Lappa. There you will find numerous rock tombs dating from the 300 years between about 100 BC and 200 AD, part of a much larger cemetery of the ancient city of Lappa.

A whole day can be spent very pleasantly in Argyroupolis. Here you can shop ecologically, eat excellently - and above all feel at first hand that many a Cretan village of today was a much more important town in antiquity and the Middle Ages. In a valley cut densely covered with trees, ten powerful springs spring up, some of which supply the city of Rethymno with drinking water. Now the village has only about 400 inhabitants, 2000 years ago there were about ten thousand. The name of the village means 'silver city' - no one really knows why.

Just outside the beautiful mountain village on the road towards Kato Poros you will see a brown signpost with the inscription 'Church of Holy 5 Virgins / Cemetery of Ancient Lappa'. Leave your car here and follow the sign on foot along the good path that runs alongside lemon and orange trees. After only 100 m you will discover the first ancient grave on the left in the low rock face. After another 150 m, you will reach the small chapel of the 5 Holy Virgins. At its forecourt and on the rock face behind the church you can see numerous other rock tombs and also go inside.