Significant remnants of earlier phases in the town's history have been uncovered around the monastery, with its imposing katholikon and adjoining buildings, in the surrounding area known as Kastella. These derive from the period of Arab rule, the second Byzantine period and the early years of Venetian rule. The area is now named after a sultana factory that stood on the site before the antiquities were discovered. Both the factory and the entertainment venue that succeeded it were called "Kastella".