A circular route west of Rethymno, above the New and Old National roads.

It is characterized as a traditional settlement with a great artistic past. Its inhabitants understood early on the value of the architectural elements, and respected, preserved, and exploited them. So today Atsipopoulo keeps its traditional appearance and the nobility of the Venetian times.

The visitor will be impressed by the neighborhoods with courtyards and doors dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, the churches, and the traditional and Venetian houses. It is worth visiting the Center for Culture and Folklore, which is located on the main road, near the church of Saint Eleftherios.

The soul of this center is its inspirer Manolis Rodinos, who collected with a lot of effort dozens of stamp collections, shadow theater figures, cinema projectors, cameras, typewriters, books, plays, works of art, and stories of old locals of the area. The visitor can enjoy his coffee or taste traditional dishes in the traditional cafes and taverns that exist in the village, as well as visit its churches. The most important is Panagia Mesochoriana, which is located in the middle of the settlement and is dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

Other churches are the holy church of Saint Eleftherios and Saint Ioannis Chrysostomos. Finally, in the seaside rocky area of the village, there is the Simonelli cave which was named after the Italian traveler Vitorio Simonelli. Frantzeskiana Metochia is a village located in a basin, 12km west of Rethymno, at an altitude of 210 meters, with 250 inhabitants.

In the village, the visitor can admire the architectural rhythm, the old-fashioned decoration, and the excellent central position of the Holy Church of the Virgin Mary as well as the church of Timios Stavros in the homonymous place. He can also enjoy his coffee in the traditional cafés and taste traditional dishes at the village\'s taverns.

The Primary School of the village has been operating since 1837. This building, known also as the "House of the Teacher", became the European Fairy Tale Center, where the first European fairy tale seminar was held in 1997 with the participation of several international storytellers. Gonia is a village located 10km away from Rethymno, on the old road to Episkopi at an altitude of 220 meters. It was built during the Venetian domination, around 1350-1400, by local Cretans, who came from the surrounding villages, but also from those who stayed in the location of “Kefalas”. They were installed in a corner of the small plain, named Mikri Gonia (small corner) in distinction from Megali Gonia or Asi Gonia (big corner).

The settlement has a significant number of churches that the visitor has the opportunity to visit and tour. Some of them are Agios Ioannis Theologos which is an old basilica with a carved wooden temple, the Assumption of the Virgin in the area of “Traoutsi” with a panoramic view, a stone-built church named Agia Kiriaki and the cemetery church of Agia Irini. Since the 1990s the village has shown great development and progress, as several residents from various places have been settled there. As a result, many businesses started their operation such as picturesque taverns, cheese factories, dairies, candle-making crafts, traditional bakeries, etc. In the past, there was also operating a flour mill in the lower rivers.

The active cultural club of the village organizes various events. The most important fest takes place on the 15th of August. Kato Valsamonero is a village perfectly separated from the upper homonymous village of the same northwest region of Rethymno.

It is a community that has been honored twice as one of the cleanest settlements. Here the visitor can visit the holy temple of Agia Paraskevi and at the edge of the village, in a rocky position, is the excellent Sanctuary of Agios Ioannis Chrisostomos with frescoes of rare art of the 10th and 12th century. Monks of the church of the Virgin Mary painted also famous hagiographies in the 14th century, while the Ottomans later pierced them with sharp objects.

The modern inhabitants of the village are occupied mostly with agriculture, livestock and trade. Peaceful, hardworking and progressive people contribute to the development of the picturesque village with the foundation of the traditional folklore club. At the end of the settlement there are the caves of Vasile at the nort-west of the village, of Perdika at the west at an altitude of 350 meters and that of Trypiti.

During the tour, the visitor may visit the picturesque churches of the settlement, which hide interesting stories known only by the locals, like the following: Agios Antonios Evangelistic, located in the center of the village.
The temple was founded during the period of the Ottoman Domination, and according to the tradition of Ottoman rule, all the inhabitants in one day cut the bushes, put fire to the lime kiln, and produced all the limestones needed to build the church. Agios Pantelei…