Early Christian Basilica. Poros. Elounda.

Last year when we were here we went searching for this beautiful mosaic floor of the 4th-5th Century Basilica. 
We walked from our hotel into Elounda this morning for a couple of miles then another mile or so  across a causeway to a large island, passing ancient windmills whose sails are long gone. 
    The causeway passed old salt beds which were constructed by the Venetians. They are still visible but mostly submerged. 
       Last year we found a fairly recent Greek Orthdox small basilica just as we began to explore once across the causeway. But it was locked. No-one seemed to know the whereabouts of the mosaic. 
    Eventually making further enquiries on our return  we met someone who had been searching for it as well. He told us it was in a field, someway beyond the basilica, and surrounded by a ramshackle wire fence with no access as the entrance to this ancient site was padlocked! 
      But by this time we did not have the time to go back. 
   Today we were successful after searching in stony fields covered with dried thistles which caught at your legs, (we were wearing shorts), we simply stared in disbelief at this wonderful example of early mosaics, ancient history, which was left untended and open to the elements all year round. Crazy but there it is. 
   At least it is surrounded by wire fencing, like the sort which is temporarily erected on building sites to keep people out. 
   I poked my zoom lens through the wire to take some photos. 
This was taken with Stephen's mobile phone. He stood on a few large old boulders and managed to hold his phone up high enough to clear the wire. 
    As we picked our way back through the dry stony fields once more we passed a flock of goats each with a bell round it's neck, making that distinctive tinny clanking noise. 
     After arriving back at the beginning of our return across the causeway we stopped at a small waterside taverna with a fabulous view across the causeway to Elounda nestling at the foot of the surrounding mountains.
We return home tomorrow. 
I hope the link will open. There is more information to read about the site. 

https://www.cretanbeaches.com/en/religious-monuments-on-crete/inactive-monasteries-and-hermitages/the-inactive-monasteries-of-mirabello/early-christian-basilica-of-elounda