The lion fountain
A long trough and carved lion heads under shading plane trees.
Tango7174 โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท C messier โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท C messier โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท
**A mountain village made famous by a single fountain** โ and it deserves the fame: a long stone trough fed by water pouring from a **row of carved lion heads**, under plane trees in a small shaded square. The fountain is **Venetian in style** and fed by cold mountain spring water that is good to drink; locals fill their bottles from it daily. It stands right in the middle of the village, so no searching is needed. Spili itself is at about **430 m**, halfway between Rethymno and the south coast, and its stone lanes are narrow and climbing, the houses covered in jasmine and bougainvillea, and the air **noticeably cooler** than the coast in summer. It is a **bishop's seat**, so its church is large for the size of the village. โ And it is **a stop rather than a destination**: half an hour to an hour is quite enough โ but it is the best coffee stop on the road to Plakias or Agia Galini.
A long trough and carved lion heads under shading plane trees.
Climbing stone alleys and houses buried in jasmine and bougainvillea.
At 430 m โ clearly cooler than the coast in summer.
Spili, 74053 Rethymno, Crete
**Accounts differ, and counting on the spot is the arbiter.** Different sources give different numbers โ **19** and **25** are the most commonly quoted โ and the reason is that the fountain has been **restored and extended more than once** over the centuries, with heads added to the original trough, so some sources count only the old ones and others count them all. There is no official figure posted at the site. The practical and rather fun advice: **count them yourself** โ it takes a minute and children enjoy it. What matters about the fountain is not the number but that **it still works**: cold spring water running without interruption in the middle of a mountain village for centuries.
**Stop โ but for half an hour, not half a day.** Spili is roughly halfway between Rethymno and the south, and the road there is winding mountain road, so the stop is **practically sensible**: it rests the driver, breaks up the motion sickness for anyone who suffers it, refills your bottles with free cold water, and gets you a coffee under plane trees for less than on the coast. โ But do not linger: the village is lovely but **genuinely small**, with no museum and no archaeological site, and anyone sitting for two hours is waiting for something that will not arrive. The ideal arrangement is **in the morning on your way south**, when the square is empty and the coaches have not arrived, then on to Preveli or Plakias for the beach day.
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