The Agios Nikolaus Chapel is a tiny white chapel sitting upon a rocky islet in the sea in Georgioupoulis, West Crete. It definitely sounded cool and unique to me and we were heading that way anyway, so thought we’d go check it out…

We wouldn’t have known about the chapel if our hotel shuttle driver hadn’t told us about it, so we squeezed it in on our way to see Lake Kournas.

There is a rocky path leading out to the chapel; from afar it looks like quite a normal, easy-to-walk-on path, but that is not the case!

You have to make sure you’re wearing good shoes, as in reality you pretty much have to jump from rock to rock and try not to fall down the cracks. Don’t even think about going barefoot or wearing flimsy sandals – you will have immediate regret!

Close-up, the Agios Nikolaus Chapel is a beautiful little building. It is is dedicated to Saint Nicholas patron of sailors, and wedding ceremonies are often carried out here.

The interior, as you would expect, is tiny, but you can go inside and make a donation if you wish.

I was thinking that I had never seen anything quite like this before – then I remembered my visit to the Itsukushima Shrine in Japan – different religion, similar concept, both awesome.

View from the interior looking out to the rocky path and the shore – and the White Mountains in the far distance.

The time had come to make my way back to the shore – I swear it felt longer walking back! I saw some little crabs scuttling in among the rocks and some small fish in the beautiful clear water on either side of the pathway.

I took a walk around to a jetty running parallel to the pathway to the chapel, and was able to capture it from afar.

The Agios Nikolaus Chapel is definitely worth the visit if you’re in the area but don’t expect to spend more than an hour here. As mentioned before, we visited on the way to see Lake Kournos, which I would also recommend.

Make sure you wear good shoes and go on a day with good weather; I can’t imagine how awful negotiating that rocky path would be on a rainy or windy day!