Holiday at Hotel Aquila Porto Rethymnon, Crete            Tuesday 1st May - Tuesday 8th May 2012   

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Roadside Shrines

As we drove about the island we could not help but notice the roadside shrines. They appeared to be every few kilometres - not a set distance apart, sometimes there was only one, sometimes two or three in a place. The early ones seemed to be made of sheet metal and placed on top of a pole about 1 metre high. The shape was usually rectangular with a pitched roof; they were usually painted but many were going rusty. Many had a cross on top. Later ones seem to be of concrete or similar material, painted. All often had items inside, a lantern, a photograph or picture. We photographed a few and the images appear below. The modern types of shrine were being sold through what appeared to be Garden Centres. The photo gallery below shows a selection of those we saw.

Early Sheet Metal Shrine Most of the metal shrines appear to be fairly old, some are going rusty. Many are still being looked after.	Shapes The shape can vary quite a bit. Some have a pitched roof, some a flat roof, some a curved roof.	Concrete It appears that many more recent models are being made from concrete and sold through garden centres or builders' merchants.	Shape varies As with the metal ones, the shape and form of the later ones varies a lot.
Two Storey Multi-storey ones appear as well.	Support Gone are the simplepole supports. The newer ones have a cast concrete base.	Roof shapes vary	Towers are also appearing now.
Monuments Some also have an inscribe tablet or monument.	Where to buy.	Sales Display	Size varies Whilst most of the are similar in size - about biscuit tin size or slightly larger, some quite large ones appear. Even some about the size of a garden shed.