Location: outside of the village of Galini

 

Description:  the fortified Noble’s Tower (or Panagias Ypsiloteras Monastery) constitutes the mightiest  fortress on the island, and was founded in 1600 by Jacob Kokkos. The tower was owned by a family of Orthodox nobles who were fierce opponents of Frankish feudalism during Turkish rule and contributed through their struggle to its gradual demise. 

 

The monastery is located inside the Angelopoulos Tower, and constituted one of the best fortified defense structures on the island during battles with the Venetians: it was used sometimes as a military base and at other times as a refuge for the area’s farmers. 

 

The post-Byzantine church exists in the center of the tower’s interior court, but the round tower (reminding one very much of the Krispi-Glezou Tower at the Kastro in the Chora) with its crenellations, its battlements and its large walls without openings, suggests a probable fortress rather than a monastery.