Moni Toplou is an attractive monastery about 18 km East of Sitia and Corina Hotel Bungalows / Flats. It is built high on a rugged plateau on the way to Erimoupoli or Vai, and its architecture resembles a fort due to the fact that throughout history it had to defend itself from bandits, pirates, and invaders. Moni Toplou literally means “Monastery with the gun”, thus named by the Turks because it had in its possession a small cannon.