The old monastery of Panagia Kardiotissa is in a magnificent and verdant area.

Some kilometers before the village of Agios Thomas (coming from Heraclion), in the left, there is a small road that leads you to the old monastery of Panagia Kardiotissa (about 1 kilometer).

The Byzantine church of Panagia is built in the 14^th century and in the eastern bank of the tributary of Aksedianos. Some waterfalls are created in the precinct of the church, when the weather is such.

Some traces of foundations are easily seen in the yard. They are the foundations of an older church of the 7^th century that had built on the ruins of an ancient sanctuary.

The visitor can rest on the benches under the large, 600-year-old oak.

In the precinct, there are two calabashes with an inscription that informs about the miracle of Panagia. According to the inscription, in 1914, a Turk had a by-birth paralytic daughter. The Turk heard about the miracles of Kardiotissa and offered tributes to her. Among them, there were 2 calabashes of olive oil and 2 calabashes of honey. The daughter became well and the Turk praised Panagia. In 2012, the two calabashes with the honey were found and put in the yard.

A guest house was built there to host the large number of the visitors of the monastery. The women’s workshop of traditional weaving of Agios Thomas is hosted there today.

It was a female monastery in 1935-1962, while, during the German occupation, the guest house accommodated residents of the whole area.

As the years went by, the monastery had been desolated, but, in 1992, its renovation started.