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North of Livádhi, just beyond Dhókana, it is worth making a detour off the main road for MYLOPÓTAMOS , a lovely traditional village and an oasis in summer, set in a wooded valley occupied by a small stream. The shady Platanos kafenío makes a pleasant stop for a drink above the village's springs and To Kamari , in an old restored building, serves snacks and drinks on a lower waterside terrace. Follow the signs for "Katarraktis Neraidha" to find a waterfall, hidden from view by lush vegetation, next to a long-closed café. The valley below the falls is overgrown but contains the remains of the watermill that gave the village its name.

Káto Hóra (Kástro Mylopotamoú), 500m down the road, was Mylopótamos's predecessor, and remains half-enclosed within the walls of a Venetian fortress. The fortress is small, full of locked, well-labelled churches, and has a rather domestic appearance: unlike the castle at Hóra, it was built as a place of refuge for the villagers in case of attack, rather than as a base for a Venetian garrison. All the houses within the walls are abandoned - as are many outside - but are open and accessible. Beyond here, a surfaced but briefly precipitous road continues 5km through spectacular cliffscapes to Limniónas , a rocky inlet with a small sand beach, but a fire in June 2000 has left the surrounding countryside unattractive and bereft of vegetation.

The reason most visitors come to Mylopótamos is to see the cave of Ayía Sofía , the largest and most impressive of a number of caverns on the island. A half-hour signposted walk from the village, or a short drive by a new dirt road being constructed off the Limniónas road, the cave is open regularly from mid-June to mid-September (Mon-Fri 3-8pm, Sat & Sun 11am-5pm; ¬2.50). When the cave is closed, you can probably find a guide in Mylopótamos; ask at the village, giving a day's notice if possible. The cave is worth the effort to see: the entrance has been used as a church and has an iconostasis carved from the rock, with important Byzantine frescoes on it. Beyond, the cave system comprises a series of chambers which reach 250m into the mountain, although the thirty-minute guided tour (in Greek and English) only takes in the more interesting outer chambers. These include some startling formations like the "shark's teeth", but you have to ask to be shown "Aphrodite's chambers". A minute new species of disc-shaped insect has been discovered there.