On the eastern side of the town of Ithaca, in the suburb of Karavata, one finds the ‘Metropolis’, the Cathedral Church, dedicated to the Entry of the Theotokos in the Temple. It is a single, spacious, roadside structure of the 1800’s. The date is testified by the foundation stone that is on the wall, next to the western entrance. Before the building of the present structure, a smaller Church existed in the same area. This was called the “Panagia at Linobrochia”. Rain water often pooled in the area, and the sea, upon reaching it, would render it brackish. It was in this brackish water that the locals softened their flax before processing it further.

In the present-day Church one can see the magnificent, carved, wooden Iconostasis or ‘Icon-screen’, dating back to 1793. It is the work of the carver Ioannis Paschoulitis from Metsovo. On the left side of the Church stands the Pulpit, a work of excellent artistry by the Ithacan Spyros Komninos from the village of Lefki.

Also, within the Church are housed the exquisite Icons from the Church of the “Panagoula of the Count”, destroyed by the terrible earthquakes of 1953. Next to the Church, at a short distance, stands its bell tower, a work of superb architectural art, completed in the beginning of the twentieth century.