Paul’s Journey to Rome - Fair Havens

Sep 2

“Coasting along (the lee of Crete) with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea…because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in, the majority decided to put out to sea from there..” Acts 8, 12

Paul’s Roman escort / jailer had found a ship sailing for Italy even though it was late in the season to make the journey. As they made their way along the southern coast of Crete they came “with difficulty” to Fair Havens (Kaloi Limenes - which means “good harbor” and the little village here goes by the same name today). Acts doesn’t tell us how long their ship stayed here; if they stayed right on the coast or walked inland a few miles to Lasea . Acts does tell us that while the harbor was not suitable to winter in (no doubt getting supplies in a relatively desolate place would have been difficult, and the harbor was small), Paul warned the crew that trying to sail further would be disastrous. But the Roman centurion and the pilot of the ship decided to proceed anyway, hoping to make it to Phoenix, a more suitable port to the west.

The current village at Fair Havens is small with a couple of little cafes and a swimming beach. There is a small white chapel with a bright blue roof on the hill above the bay dedicated to Paul. This little chapel (1911) is built over the ruins of an older church and has a view of the bay and the cove to the west. The chapel was restored in 1970. The Greek Orthodox declared the chapel a sacred place when it was visited by an archbishop in 1992. A path that winds down the hill leads to a cave. Local traditions say that Paul slept in this cave while his ship was sheltering here. As we were exploring the chapel area, a local man rode up on a 3 wheeler and pantomimed the story of “Paulo’s” boat pulling into the harbor, Paul walking on the hill and then sleeping in the cave. He encouraged us to explore the chapel and the cave. We later read that the inscription at the church states that the church “was built at the expense of K. Karterakis and his wife Maria…”. And that Maria was granddaughter to Michael Koreas the leader of the Cretan revolution.

The beautiful views looking out to sea are unfortunately spoiled a bit by large oil storage tanks on an island (St Paul’s island) out in the harbor. The sun came out toward the end of our visit and we were able to get some last minute picture of the bay looking it’s best!