SlideShare uma empresa Scribd logo
1 de 74
Baixar para ler offline
Discover The Unknown Crete
The G. & A. Mamidakis Foundation, has for two decades
now made ongoing efforts to present to the public major
cultural events, always directly related to Tourism.
Taking as our point of departure our native island of Crete,
a crossroads of cultures from East and West, we have
sought to propose seminal exhibitions of Greek and
international Contemporary Art for art lovers.
Perhaps unique for the 48 sculptures on display in its
gardens, the MINOS BEACH ART HOTEL boasts of a
substantial collection of works by leading Greek and
international artists.
Continuing our cultural activities today, we have
established, illustrated, documented and explored
untrodden paths of Eastern Crete in a tasty 144-page
catalogue titled:

                     Awake your Senses
                 Discover the unknown Crete
                   Eastern Crete - book one


We trust that the publication of these practical catalogues,
which also provide information about other unknown
destinations-monasteries, archaeological sites-will enable
modern-day travellers to experience another side of Crete,
the authentic, unexplored inland regions of the island, just
like the international travellers who discovered and
recorded the charms of our land in the 17th and 18th
centuries.



                                       Gina Mamidakis
                                            President
                                  G. & A. Mamidakis Foundation
JUDITH LANGE MARIA STEFOSSI




                          awake your senses
                 DISCOVER THE UNKNOWN CRETE
                              Eastern Crete - Book One




Publication of this book has been made possible thanks to Gina
Mamidakis, President of the G.& A. Foundation and bluegr Mamidakis
Hotels group, and long-time patron of culture and the arts. The book is
dedicated to those ever-curious travellers who wish to learn more of
the beautiful region of eastern Crete.




© copyright text and photographs by Judith Lange - Maria Stefossi
© copyright edition by the G.& A. Foundation and bluegr Mamidakis hotels group.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written
permission from the authors.
Crete is the island of which Homer sang, "Along the wine-
    dark sea, by water ringed, there lies a land both fair and

    fertile", a mysterious and magical land, source of the myths

    of the Greek world. Zeus, king of the gods of the ancient

    Greeks, was born in a grotto here, and it was here too that

    he died and came back to life.



    This book tells of the beauty of eastern Crete, of the

    Prefecture of Lasithi, with its mountain ranges, vast

    plateaus, fertile valleys, arid plains, magnificent beaches

    and its ancient memories. To discover the authentic Crete

    one must travel slowly, drawn by curiosity not only to the

    great archaeological sites and monuments, but also to the

    landscape and the sky, the houses and the rocks, because

    on Crete everything is myth, legend and history: the
    mountains, the grottoes, the gorges, the trees, the stones

    and even the scent of the shrubs in bloom.




4                                                                  5
MINOS BEACH art hotel                                                MINOS BEACH art hotel




                                                                         You can awaken your senses at Minos Beach Art hotel, with its
                                                                         unique artistic environment of 45 works of Greek and foreign
                                                                         artists. A local and international culinary choice of traditional
                                                                         Cretan cuisine and unique gourmet tastes for exquisite dining in
                                                                         our restaurants or enjoy an array of thirst-quenching cocktails in
        Escape in style                                                  our two bars.

    Experience the wonder of Cretan luxury with aromatic gardens
    and distinctive architecture.
    Located on the waterfront in the magical area of Ayios Nikolaos,
    in the eastern part of Crete, the town centre is a mere ten minute                                    An abundance of
    walk away.                                                                                            recreational activities
                                                                                                          and leisure facilities will
    Set within a serene landscape and unique environs thus ensuring                                       ensure fun and
    an unforgettable experience in one of the 129 beautifully and                                         entertainment
    spaciously appointed bungalows. All are equipped with balconies                                       throughout your stay
    or private terrace with unique views of the azure sea and                                             in an environment of
    extensive gardens, air-condition, direct dial telephone, mini bar,                                    tranquillity and luxury.
    TV, in room safe, hairdryer and bathroom. Our Executive and
    Presidential suites are spacious and offer a private swimming
    pool.




6                                                                                                                                             7
CANDIA PARK VILLAGE                                                  CANDIA PARK VILLAGE




                           Experience a world of fun
                         and recreation


                          Candia Park Village is an ideal place for
                          families and couples
                          of all ages. Modelled on a traditional Cretan
    village, all 222 apartments are spaciously equipped and offer a
    magnificent waterfront location overlooking the turquoise
    waters of Mirabello Bay.
    Set in the environs of a traditional Cretan Village with extensive
    gardens, the clock square, the Greek coffee house, all add to the
    charm of this picturesque village of traditional hospitality.

                                                                          The Candia Park Village is a complete holiday village making it
                                                                          the ideal place for relaxation and amusement. Facilities include
                                                                          sea water and fresh water swimming pools, Jacuzzi, tennis
                                                                          courts, private beach, water sports and recreational areas for all
                                                                          tastes and age groups. The highlight is our mini club for our
                                                                          young friends from 4 to 12 years of age that offers stimulating
                                                                          activities, competitions and games.


    All apartments are spacious of 40 m2 and 60 m2 offering private
    balconies or terrace. Each can accommodate from 2 to 6 persons
    and are fully equipped with airconditioning, bathroom, direct
    dial telephone and a kitchenette to prepare afternoon coffee or
    tea or perhaps a light meal.
    A variety of restaurants with a wide choice of a la carte items,
    sunny bars for thirst-quenching drinks and light snacks provide a
    unique ambience with panoramic views of Mirabello bay. A mini
    market is available.


8                                                                                                                                         9
CHAPTER 1



SACRED AND PROFANE
  IN THE SHADOW
  OF MOUNT DIKTI




                     AYIOS NIKOLAOS

                         KRITSA

                     PANAYIA Y KERA

                          LATO

                        KATHARO

                        LASSITHI

                         KARPHI
C H A P T E R   1



                                    Ayios Nikolaos                       Xepatomeni (bottomless), sacred to Athena
                                                                         and Artemis who, as the legend goes,
                                                                         bathed their divine bodies here.
                                                                              The city declined after the Roman
                                                                         conquest but acquired new importance
                                                                         during the Byzantine period, when it
                                                                         became the seat of the bishopric of Kamara:
                                                                         of that era there remains the little church of
                                                                         Ayios Nikolaos of the tenth or eleventh
                                                                         century, with rare frescoes from the
                                                                         iconoclast period when the ecclesiastical
                                                                         authorities forbad the physical
                                                                         representation of sacred images.
                                                                              At the beginning of the thirteenth
                                                                         century the Genoese and Venetians fought
                                                                         for possession of the coast and initially the
                                                                         Genoese, led by the gentleman-pirate Enrico
                                                                         Pescatore, prevailed. Pescatore erected the
                                                                                                                          The small church of

 An engraving
                       It is hard to imagine that a century and          castle of Mirambelo, promptly destroyed by
                                                                         the Venetians to whom the island of Crete
                                                                                                                          Ayios Nikolaos
                                                                                                                          dating from the
 representing the      a half ago Ayios Nikolaos - one of Crete's        was assigned by the treaty of Adrianoupoli       tenth or eleventh
 Venetian castle of    richest and liveliest cities - was, as an old                                                      century
 Ayios Nikolaos:
                                                                         in 1204.
 today nothing
                       document attests, only a tiny village of just          Hurriedly reconstructed, the castle was
 remains of this       95 souls. Ayios Nikolaos, capital of the          briefly occupied by the Turks in 1645, then
 fortress              Prefecture of Lasithi, has the appearance of                                                       Lake Voulismeni
                       a relatively new city, but its history is very
                       ancient, even if the evidence of its turbulent
                       past is now buried under modern buildings.
                             Thanks to its splendid position
                       overlooking the gulf of Mirambelo (or as the
                       Venetian has it, Mirabello or "beautiful view")
                       the site was chosen by the ancient Dorians
                       (ninth to seventh centuries B.C.) for the port
                       of Lato, an important fortified settlement
                       between the mountains near Kritsa. The city
                       was then called Lato pros Kamara and was
                       famous for its safe harbour. One of the
                       wonders of the place was considered to be
                       the small lake of Voulismeni - today linked
                       to the sea by a narrow canal and surrounded
 The excavations of
 the ancient town in   by restaurants and cafes - a lake of dark and
 the city              unfathomable waters, also known as



12                                                                                                                                          13
C   H   A   P   T   E   R   1
                                                                               ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM
                                                                                  OF AYIOS NIKOLAOS




                                                                                                  Skull with a wreath of gold leaves
                               taken back by the Venetians who, however,                          from the Roman cemetery at
                              decided to destroy it once more themselves                          Potamos, first century A.D. and
                                                                                                  Late Minoan clay sarcophagi or
                              for the sake of not leaving it in Turkish                           larnakes
                              hands: not one stone remains of the
                                            celebrated fort atop the highest
                                            hill of Ayios Nikolaos.
                                                  The city was entirely
                                            abandoned when, during the
                                            second half of the nineteenth                         Late Minoan
                                            century, groups of exiled                             female
                                            sfakiotes arrived from the                            worshipper
                                                                                                  from the
                                            mountains of western Crete,                           cemetery at
                                            and the place slowly began to                         Myrsini
                                            come to life again. From that
                                            moment onwards the reborn
                                            city would be called Ayios
                                            Nikolaos, taking its name from
                                            the little ninth-century
                                            Byzantine church which was the
                                            only surviving testimony to
                                                                                                                         Pottery dating
                                            have resisted all the turbulence                                             from the Late
                                            of this history. Every 6th                                                   Minoan period
                                            December there is a great feast
                                            dedicated to St. Nicholas,
     A medieval               patron saint of fishermen.                            Clay vessel
     archer from the                One must is a visit to the city's               from the
     region of Sfakia:                                                              fourteenth
     during the               Archaeological Museum which possesses                 century B.C.
     nineteenth               beautiful finds from the past forty years of          found in the
     century many             excavations in eastern Crete: ceramics, gold,         Palace of Malia
     sfakiotes arrived                                                              and
     in Ayios Nikolaos        idols (among which there are a large number           Daedalic
                              of votive offerings from the Minoan peak              figurines from
                              sanctuaries), sarcophagi and glass.                   the eighth and
                                                                                    seventh
                                                                                    centuries B.C.


14
C    H   A    P   T   E    R   1




                                          Kritsa and Panayia y Kera                                                             Among the narrow
                                                                                                                                alleyways of Kritsa


                             Kritsaastretches outtrees aatwhitemouth of a
                                                   like         lizard
                             above sea of olive           the
                             dark gorge beneath the mountain heights of
                             the Dikti that surround two high plains, the
                             immense Lasithi plateau and the more               na of the Creation) dating from the
                             modest Katharo plateau.                            thirteenth or fourteenth century, with three
                                                                                naves and an unusual three-pointed facade,
                                                                                surrounded by tall cypresses.
                                                                                The arrangement of the
                                                                                paintings that cover each of
                                                                                the internal walls observes the
                                                                                rigid hierarchy required in that
                                                                                period: first God and the
                                                                                angels, then the life of Jesus
                                                                                and Mary, followed by
                                                                                representations of Paradise and the Last
                                                                                Judgement, biblical stories, saints and,
                                                                                finally, images of men known for their faith.
                             Kritsa, with its narrow alleyways, the low
                                                                                The saturated colours (the dark red of ripe
                             houses jumbled one over another, its very
                                                                                pomegranates, the green of the leaves of
                             colourful traditional costumes, its numerous
                                                                                ancient olive trees, the ochre and dark
                             kafeneion and taverns, seems the archetypal
                                                                                brown of the earth) and the close-packed
                             "Cretan village", even if the definition
                                                                                sequence of images, each different, each
                             "village" seems reductive for this fairly large,
                                                                                powerful and vigorous, immersed in the          The Byzantine
                             extended country town. It is so very "Cretan"                                                      church of Panayia y
                                                                                semi-darkness, rather dizzy the viewer, and
                             that in 1957 the American film director Jules                                                      Kera with its
 The white village                                                              this was, perhaps, precisely what the artist    beautiful frescoes
                             Dassin chose Kritsa and its inhabitants for
 of Kritsa above a                                                              intended.
 green valley of             the setting of the film He, who must die
 olive trees                 based on Nikos Kazantzakis' famous novel
                             The Greek Passion which told a modern
                             version of the passion of Christ. Every year
                             on Good Friday there is a sumptuous
                             procession through Kritsa during which the
                             epitaphios, a catafalque covered with
                             flowers, is carried through the town, amidst
                             prayers, laments and song.
                                   However, before arriving at Kritsa one
                             should pay a visit to one of the most
                             beautiful and important Byzantine churches
                             on Crete: the Panayia y Kera (the Madon-

16                                                                                                                                                    17
C     H   A   P   T   E   R   1



                                                                                made new laws, minted coins with the
                                                  Lato                          effigies of Artemis and Hermes and imposed
                                                                                a new social order on the population of the
 Lato, once an                                                                  area.
 important Dorian
                                                                                      Lato was born as a fortified city
 city-state, amidst
 a beautiful                                                                    stretching across six terraces with a double
 mountainous                                                                    acropolis, a vast agora and a prytaneion,
 landscape
                                                                                which functioned as administrative centre
                                                                                and banqueting hall for the guests of
                                                                                honour who dined here sitting on the stone
                                                                                benches of the hestiatorion. A monumental
                                                                                stairway marks the entrance to the
                                                                                prytaneion, while another, not far from a
                                                                                large temple (perhaps dedicated to Apollo)
                                                                                has been identified as the "theatre space".
                                                                                The city flourished up until the Hellenistic
                                                                                period and the ancient writers affirm that
                                                                                this was the birthplace of Niarchos, valorous
                                                                                general and friend of Alexander the Great.

                              As everywhere in Greece, side-by-side, and
                                                          on Crete the              A careful observation of the structure and
                                                                                the materials that form the buildings, the
                              sacred and the profane live
                              if on one hand churches and monasteries           roads and the doors is worthwhile: the           With its strong
                                                                                                                                 walls and
                              record the profound religiousness of the          ancient system of construction has been
                                                                                                                                 monumental
                              population, numerous ancient ruins evoke          handed down through the centuries, and           buildings, Lato
                              the foreign powers, wars and conflicts that       some of the same architectural details can       is the best-
                                                                                                                                 preserved of the
                              have tormented the island over the                still be seen in the old stone-built country
                                                                                                                                 Cretan cities of
                              centuries. Some kilometres before arriving at     houses dotted among the mountains                the Doric/ Clas-
                              Kritsa a turning off the main road leads to       around Kritsa.                                   sical period

                              Lato, one of the island's best-preserved
                              ancient cities, enclosed between two hills
                              below Mount Thylakas. The city-state, which
                              took its name from the goddess Leto,
                              mother of Apollo and Artemis, was founded
                              in the eighth century B.C. by Dorians hailing
 These small
 daedalic figurines           from the Greek mainland, who invaded
 are typical of the           Crete in around 1000 B.C., chasing the native
 Doric style of
                              inhabitants from their lands: they spoke a
 sculpture that
 flourished during            dialect similar to Greek and proclaimed
 the eighth and               themselves descendents of the offspring of
 seventh centuries
                              Hercules. Strengthened by their absolute
 B.C.
                              authority over the island after the fall of the
                              Minoan and Mycenaean kingdoms, they

18                                                                                                                                                  19
C     H   A   P   T   E   R    1



                                                The Katharo Plateau


                                L  ess well-known, smaller and more hidden
                                than Lasithi, the plateau of Katharo is
                                reached via a road (all curves) that begins at
                                the crest of the town of Kritsa. Climbing up
                                amidst silver-grey rocks that glitter in the
                                sunlight in contrast with the red soil, and
                                among low tough-leaved shrubs that form
                                anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures
                                like little sculptures, one has the sensation of
                                travelling through an archaic land, fixed and
                                solid, as though it were petrified. The few
                                trees have dark hat-shaped crowns that give        small stone houses of the shepherds and          The remains of
                                                                                                                                    old stone houses
                                shade to the roots and offer relief to sheep       peasants who took refuge here during the         or mitates are
                                and goats in search of some cool.                  months of mountain pasture. Almost always        part of the
                                                                                   rectangular in form - but also, at times,        landscape as
                                                                                                                                    much as the
                                                                                   circular like the tholos (beehive) tombs - the   rocky hills and
                                                                                   building of the mitates involved choosing        withered trees
                                                                                   with care the individual stones, evaluating
                                                                                   the shape and dimensions in order to lay
                                                                                   them expertly one on top of another until a
                                                                                   perfect wall was formed through which
                                                                                   there filtered neither sun, nor wind nor rain.
                                                                                   At the centre of the single room a robust
                                                                                   tree trunk with a forked top functions as a
                                                                                   column, holding up the roof of branches and
                                     Halfway along the route towards the           canes, whilst the entrance is marked by two
                                plateau (where there is a magnificent view         vertical pilasters surmounted by a stone slab,
                                across the gulf of Mirambelo) a small road         a modest version of the monumental portals
                                sign indicates the existence of a grotto           of the ancient cities or of megalithic houses.
                                which is to be found about three-hundred                 Now abandoned and used only
                                metres further along the slope, not difficult      sporadically, the mitates contain small signs
                                to reach. The triangular mouth of the grotto       of an austere life: a blackened hearth, the
                                allows a glimpse of a steep descent through        occasional cooking pot with a hole in it,
                                two galleries into the dark bowels of the          frayed ropes for tying up the animals, or
                                earth amid grey and pink-ochre striped             troughs cut into the stone. Observing these
                                rocks.                                             lifeless houses it is natural to wonder how
                                     Continuing along the road and looking         much longer they will resist sun, wind and
     A dark grotto on
     the way to the             attentively towards the hills, one notes the       rain before crumbling definitively.
     Katharo plateau            mitates - now in ruins and camouflaged in
                                the landscape, but with a very interesting
                                architectural structure: these are the
20                                                                                                                                                     21
C   H   A   P   T   E   R   1




 Every season                   Curve after curve, between oaks and              From Katharo a stony trail (to follow
 has its own               carobs with their tormented outlines that       only in a robust car or on foot) climbs back
 colours at the
 Kataharo                  seem born from the rock, the mountain           down towards the coast in the direction of
 plateau: green            suddenly opens out offering a spectacular       Kroustas, initially crossing through desolate
 fields in                 view over the entire Katharo plateau,           landscapes with strange cumuli of dark
 springtime,
 yellow earth in           surrounded by the bare mountains of the         green stones that glitter in the sunlight like
 summer                    Dikti. Fields cultivated with grain and         shards of glass. The road follows the course
                           vegetables, fruit trees (in particular pears,   of an underground river, dry on the surface,
                           apples, figs and pomegranates) and great        which creates little oases of green amidst the
                           stretches of meadows for pasture, few           stones. Along the highest pass there opens
                           houses, few men and the odd little white        up extraordinary scenery: the simultaneous
                           church form a unified and compact pattern.      vista of the northern coast of Crete looking
                           The plateau, which in springtime is full of     towards Europe and of the southern coast
                           flowers and green grasses, in summer is         that looks towards Africa at the point at
                           coloured yellow with stubble and the            which the island is narrowest, on one side
                           ploughed soil that becomes as fine and          the gulf of Mirambelo and on the other the
                           dusty as face-powder. Katharo is the summer     Libyan Sea. A panorama from which one
                           reserve of the people of Kritsa and at given    understands the wonders of Cretan
                           periods all the flocks of sheep in the zone     geography.
                           converge here for shearing: imagine the               From this point one can continue east
                           sound produced by the bleating of               along a road that is asphalted only in parts
                           thousands of animals echoing through            towards Kroustas and Kritsa or to Istron on
                           the mountains!                                  the coast. Near Kritsa we encounter the
                                                                           church of Ayios Ioannis Theologos with           Ayios Ioannis
                                                                           three apses and very beautiful iconostasis       and Ayios
                                                                           while near Kroustas one can visit the small      Ioannis
                                                                                                                            Theologos: two
                                                                           white church of Ayios Ioannis, decorated         churches with
                                                                           with rare paintings dating from 1347, with       interesting
                                                                           images of severe saints and fathers of the       frescoes and old
                                                                                                                            icons
                                                                           church.


22                                                                                                                                             23
Discover The Unknown Crete
C   H   A   P   T   E   R    1



                                          The Lasithi Plateau




                          S
                          " ituated above the mountain summits,
                          flat and very beautiful, and an almost
                          miraculous work of nature," this is how
                          a Venetian document of 1600 describes the
                          Lasithi plateau. The plain appears like an
                          immense shell, not unlike a spent crater,
                          amid the mountain crags of the Dikti, at
                          a height of around 850 metres: patterned
                          with the rigid and regular geometries of the
                          fields, its divisions recall the city plan of
                          ancient Miletus. Here there grow fruit trees
                          of every kind, vegetables, potatoes, grain
                          and walnuts, and in the spring millions of
                          poppies blossom creating a red carpet that
                          stretches out between the mountains.
                          Isolated houses, small villages and the
                          monasteries of Vidianis and Kroustalenias
                          crown the plateau which, although               Not many years ago,
                                                                          when the place was
                          remaining essentially agricultural, has given
                                                                          still only accessible
                          over to an intense tourism.                     on mule-back,
                                                                          around 10,000
                                                                          windmills ornate
                                                                          with white canvas
                                                                          sails pumped up the
                                                                          water that served for
 Monastery Vidianis                                                       the crops, but now
 and Monastery                                                            very few remain.
 Kroustalenia:
 places of worship




26                                                                                           27
C   H   A   P   T   E   R   1



                               Once an inaccessible region, the
                          plateau has been inhabited since the
                                                                                                                              The Diktaion
                          Neolithic period, around 7,000 years ago,                                                           Antron of
                          as testified by the bone fragments and tools                                                        Psychro is
                          discovered in the grotto of Trapeza, which                                                          believed to have
                                                                                                                              been the
                          remained sacred for the Minoans, as a                                                               birthplace of
                          dwelling place of the gods of the                                                                   Zeus
                          underworld. Because of its protected
                          position amid the mountains, Lasithi
                          became a place of refuge for the native
 The grotto of            populations from the period of the Dorian
 Trapeza was a            invasions to the Venetian and Turkish
 site of cult
 activity up to
                          occupations, and even during the Second           western Crete) the honour of being the
 the Early                World War. For fear of the rebel groups, in       birthplace of the Greeks on supreme god,
 Minoan period            1263 the Venetians deported all the               Zeus. In Hesiod's Theogony we read that
                          inhabitants of the plateau down towards the       Cronus, king of the Titans and husband of his
                          valley, prohibiting any form of cultivation       own sister Rhea, devoured his children
                          for 200 years. Without its fruits, this fertile   (among whom Demeter, Hades, Poseidon,
                          land suffered terrible famine and in the mid      Hestia and Hera) because a prophecy had
                          1400 s it was decided to repopulate the           foretold that one of them would dethrone
                          plain, which in the meantime had become a         him. At the birth of Zeus, Rhea tricked
                          swampland requiring large-scale                   Cronus, having him swallow a rock wrapped
                          reclamation. During the Turkish dominion          in swaddling bands in the place of the child,
                          too, Lasithi was continuously besieged, but       and immediately afterwards she escaped
                          never completely taken.                           with the newborn into the grotto of Psychro.
                                                                            Fed on the honey of the bees and the milk of      For many centuries
                                                                                                                              the grotto of
                                                                            the goat Amalthea and defended by the             Psychro was a place
                                                                            warlike Kouretes who beat their shields hard      of worship, from
                                                                            to cover the sound of the infant's cries, Zeus    the Middle Minoan
                                                                                                                              period to Roman
                                                                            was saved. Once grown, he killed his cruel        times, and rich
                                                                            father (not before having forced him to           votive offerings
                                                                            vomit up his siblings), taking on the role of     have been found by
                                                                                                                              the archaeologists
                                                                            chief divinity in the Greek pantheon.
                                                                                  In 1900, to explore the immense cavern,
                                                                            as dark and humid as maternal placenta,
                                                                            filled with stalactites and stalagmites of the
                                                                            most varied forms and colours, the English
                                                                            archaeologist David Hogarth even had to
                                There are numerous grottos and              use dynamite to make a route for himself
                          caverns in the rocky walls around the plain,      through the narrow underground
                          ideal hiding places from the most ancient         passageways: there he found idols, ceramics,
                          of times. The most famous cave is Psychro         cult objects, gold and ivory, seals and jewels,
                          or Diktaion Antron which contends with            altars for sacrifices and a niche that was
                          another grotto (that on Mount Ida in              identified as the "crib of Zeus".
28                                                                                                                                               29
C   H   A   P   T   E   R   1



                                                                                    Karphi

                                                                 Onemass that rises aboveisLasithi to an
                                                                       particular attraction an enormous
                                                                 rocky
                                                                 altitude of 1,100 metres, visible from far off.
                                                                 The place came to be called Karphi (nail) for
                                                                 its strange cylindrical shape. Below the
                                                                 ragged peaks of the mountain there is
                                                                 hidden a Late Minoan settlement completely
                                                                 camouflaged amid the stone and inhabited
                                                                 from 1150 to 1000 B.C. by the last groups of
                                                                 Minoans - also known as Eteocretans (true         Because of its
                                                                 Cretans) - in flight from the Dorian invaders.    particular shape,
                                                                                                                   this mountain is
                                                                 The city, which could hold up to 3500             called karphi,
                                                                 inhabitants, was regular in plan like Gournia,    meaning nail
                                                                 with the houses built one up against another


                  The Diktaion Antron was also a sacred site
                 for King Minos of Knossos, who every nine
                 years descended into the cavern to receive
                 laws directly from Zeus.
                       All around the plateau, amid low
                 vegetation and scented bushes of broom
                 and thyme there are to be found small
                 villages, some inhabited, others abandoned,
                 lying beneath the slope of the mountains
                 like birds' nests. An excursion on the Dikti,
                 starting from the village of Katofigi, leaves
                 one breathless: lunar landscapes of silver      and with steep streets and flights of steps
                 rocks, isolated trees with majestic crowns      among the rocky terracing. Explored
                 and rough, stony outcrops alternate with        between 1937 and 1939 by the
                              steppe-like terrain and low        archaeologist J. D. S. Pendlebury, the site has
                              vegetation from which              yielded numerous cult objects (female idols
                              sheepfolds spring up. At times     with raised arms, bull horns, bird heads,
                              one's way is barred by fencing     rhytons) which testify to the survival of
                              and gates tied shut with knotted   Minoan culture and religion even after the
                              ropes to keep in the livestock:    fall of the palace kingdoms.
                              they can be opened on the                                                            The Eteocretan city
                              condition that one is scrupulous                                                     was built on the
                                                                                                                   slope of the giant
                              in closing them again to prevent
                                                                                                                   "nail"
                              the animals from wandering.


30                                                                                                                                       31
Discover The Unknown Crete
CHAPTER 2



  THE AUSTERITY OF STONE
AND THE SPLENDOURS OF MALIA




                                 OLOUS

                              SPINALONGA

                                DREROS

                                 KARYDI

                                 FOURNI

                              MONI ARETIOU

                                MILATOS

                                 MALIA

                                NEAPOLI
C   H   A   P   T   E   R   2




                         The austerity of stone and
                          the splendours of Malia




                 O     n Crete there are apparently-forgotten
                 lands, ignored by the normal tourist guides,
                 but which nevertheless possess a particular
                 beauty, "quieter" and hard to define. One of
                 these is the silent and almost uninhabited
                 hinterland above Ayios Nikolaos, Neapoli
                 and Malia, in complete contrast with the
                 overcrowded beaches that stretch out in
                 front of Spinalonga. Following this itinerary,
                 it is a good idea to travel without a precise
                 destination, losing oneself in the hilly
                 landscape, among small, partly-abandoned
                 villages, mills and tumble-down houses,
                 monasteries and white churches. The very
                 stones of this place recall dramatic and
                 painful stories, stories of sieges and of
                 conquests, of the battle against hunger and
                 illnesses of a population in continual revolt
                 against foreign invaders - Dorians, Romans,
                 Saracens, Venetians and Turks.



36                                                                37
C   H     A   P   T   E   R   2




                                                    Spinalonga


                                L  inked to the mainland by a narrow
                                isthmus, the Spinalonga peninsula
                                extends as far as a small rocky islet, it too
                                called Spinalonga. A natural harbour suitable
                                for small boats, Spinalonga has been known
                                since the time of the Minoans, and legend
                                has it that Daedalus, the brilliant architect of
                                Knossos, created for the inhabitants a very
                                beautiful statue of Britomartis (the Cretan              The history of the island of Spinalonga
                                Artemis - protectress of hunters and               is equally dramatic, famous for the imposing
                                fishermen). Documents from the fourth              Venetian fort which was erected in 1579 and
                                century B.C. attest to the existence of a city,    considered unassailable because equipped
                                                                                   with one of the most powerful batteries of
                                                                                   cannon in all
                                                                                   Crete. Not even
                                                                                   the Turks could
                                                                                   succeed in taking
                                                                                   it. Only during the
                                                                                   first half of the
                                                                                   eighteenth
                                                                                   century, by which
                                                                                   time Venice had
                                                                                   lost all authority over Crete, did the Turks
                                                                                   take possession of the little island which
     Olous was a city-          Olous, which controlled the maritime traffic       then became a smugglers' haunt. In 1903,
     state in Classical
                                of ships coming from Rhodes and Cyprus             after Greece's liberation from foreign
     Greek times and
     later became an            and which honoured herself in the fight            dominion, Spinalonga was transformed into
     important Christian        against the pirates who infested that stretch      a leper colony, and the bastions, the
     cult centre. Of the
                                of coast. In the ninth century Olous was           storerooms and the military barracks were
     Basilica there
     remains only the           occupied by the Saracens, but not long             occupied by hundreds of sufferers and their
     floor with its black       afterwards the entire city crumbled thanks         families until 1953 when the sanatorium was
     and white mosaic                                                                                                                The island of
                                to a terrible earthquake which was followed        closed and the island with its imposing walls
     decoration                                                                                                                      Spinalonga was
                                by the sinking of the isthmus. There are few       and towers became a tourist attraction.           fortified by the
                                traces of Olous still visible on the surface:      Climbing up the hills behind Elounda one          Venetians in 1579
                                most of the city was swallowed by the              has a magnificent view across the red roofs       and was handed
                                                                                                                                     over to the
                                waters. On the partly-swampy terrain the           of the villages of Epano Elounda and Pines,       Ottomans only in
                                foundations of an early Christian basilica of      across the olive trees and the low stone          1715 - the last of
                                the seventh century with precious mosaic           walls, as far as the bay with its peninsula and   Venice's territories
                                                                                                                                     on Crete
                                paving, with floral and geometric motifs,          the little rock of Spinalonga.
                                dolphins and inscriptions in Greek have
                                been discovered.
38                                                                                                                                                          39
C   H   A   P   T   E   R   2




                                                 Stone as art               the sail-arms are broken, the giant wheels
                                                                            are mute and the cogs rusty. Apart from the
                                                                            windmills there also survives the occasional
                                      Acan the seaside resort of Plaka
                                         fter                               old olive-mill, its huge rooms crowned with
                                                                            arches and the remains of antique
                                      we      abandon the beautiful
                                    beaches to search out the quiet of      machinery. Those restorations that have
                                    the hills, the villages and the great   taken place regard only a few mills close to
                                    empty spaces where nature has re-       the areas frequented by tourists, while the
                                    appropriated the land. Many people      others are all destined for slow destruction.
                                    have abandoned living here, be it
                                    for poverty and hunger, be it for
                                    lack of natural resources or lack of
                                    work. Where once there grew
                                    immense fields of corn and where
                                    olive trees were cultivated with
                                    their small green fruit, to be
                                    savoured with a few drops of lemon
 Far from the             juice and raki, now there often remain only
 beaches a                stony outcrops and the outlines of
 completely               windmills that have fallen in on themselves:
 different world
 appears with stony       they seem spectres, from the past, of a hard
 fields and old           and laborious life, pierced by the lances of
 abandoned houses.        an invisible Cretan Don Quixote doing battle
                          with time and nature. Great halo-like marks             In serried ranks like soldiers in arms,   Giant windmills are
                          appear alongside the windmills, like magical      atop a hill there appear the mills of           the silent guardians
                          circles from an archaic ritual; these are level   Marnelides near Lakonia, with traces of         of this wild and
                                                                                                                            archaic landscape
                          circles of stone raised slightly higher than      plaster and well-bolted doors because they
                          the surrounding terrain that served for the       are still used by the farmers as storerooms.
                          threshing of the grain with mules or oxen.        Along the road between Petros and Dreros,
                                Between Kato and Epano Loumas the           two stone giants
                          mills are made of an ochre-coloured stone,        protrude among spiny
                          with the remains of steps that follow the         thistles: they are
                          curve of the roofless circular buildings:         monumental mills, fairly
                                                                            well-preserved, each
                                                                            with an external
                                                                            staircase, a doorway
                                                                            framed with white
                                                                            blocks of stone and a
                                                                            small window. The
                                                                            facade is convex, the
                                                                            stones are perfectly smooth and the overall
                                                                            aspect is one of robustness, but peering
                                                                            inside one notes only a pile of stones, iron
                                                                            and burnt wooden beams.
40                                                                                                                                             41
C   H   A   P   T   E   R   2



                                    Similarly, ancient Dreros, a Dorian city
                              of the eighth century B.C. that survived into
                              the Roman era, is nothing but a mass
                              of stones and low walls dotted amidst thick
                              vegetation. One arrives at the site of Dreros
                              via a path between two hills in an
                              atmospheric landscape, but it takes a lot
                              of imagination to believe that here there
                              once rose up an important archaic city with
                              grand buildings, a vast agora and an             grow out of the very mortar of the houses,
                              important seventh-century B.C. temple            or Dories, also white, with its beautiful
     Statues from the
     Roman era, when          dedicated to Apollo Delphinios, of whom          church of Ayios Konstatinos, and also
     Dreros was still a
                              a bronze effigy has been discovered              Karydi which has the charm of an authentic
     living city, are                                                          rural village with beautiful stone walling to
     conserved in the         together with two statues representing
     Museum of Neapoli        Artemis and Leto.                                protect the vegetable gardens and the sown
                                                                               fields from the herds of livestock.




                                Wandering
                              among
                              streets and
 Stone walls                  paths traced
 crossing the hills
 and small, fertile           out by grey
 plains: signs of             stone walls
 the farmers' toil            that snake
                              up and
                              down the
                              hills, one
                              encounters
                                                                                                                               The villages are
                              numerous                                                                                         white and full of
                              villages: the                                                                                    flowers
                              white
                              Fourni full
                              of flowers
                              that seem to

42                                                                                                                                                 43
C     H   A    P   T   E   R   2



                                                                                 Many villages have
                                                                            been completely
                                                                            abandoned, like, for
                                                                            example, Hondro-
                                                                            volaki, which overlooks
                                                                            a gorge not far from
                                                                            Valtos: roofless houses,
                                                                            black doorways that
                                                                            look like toothless
                                                                            mouths, empty window

                                  Not far from the main square of Karydi,
                             climbing in the direction of the windmills,
                             we find the ruins of the monastery of
                             Chardemutsa, constructed like a fort in a
                             perfect mixture of Venetian and traditional
                             Cretan styles, with a great paved courtyard,
                             a vestibule with pointed arches and large
                             rooms containing old liturgical objects.

 The ruins of
 monasteries like                                                           casements like blind eyes and streets
 Chardemutsa or                                                             through which stray dogs run, are all that
 Perambela testify
 to the religious                                                           remains of a village which survives only in
 devotion of the                                                            the memory of inhabitants who will never
 population, and                                                            return. Just as no one will ever again inhabit
 the noble
 architecture                                                               the beautiful compound of a rural villa close
 continues to                                                               by the village of Ayios Georgios: built of well-
 remind us of the                                                           cut dry stone, with various rooms on several
 richness of
 monastic life                                                              floors with arches, stone steps, oven and
                                                                            fireplaces and with a spectacular view of
                                                                            the coast, the house must have belonged
                                                                            to a fairly well-off family. The large grounds
                                                                            were terraced almost right down to the sea         Some farm houses
                                                                                                                               were very big and
                                                                            and almonds and olive trees still grow there       inhabited by large
                                                                            from which no one gathers the fruit. From          family clans. This
                                                                            above one sees the ragged coastline with           kind of rural
                                                                                                                               complex was
                                                                            few isolated houses, the monastery of Ayios        entirely self-
                                                                            Andreas and the cave church of Ayios               sufficient and could
                                                                            Antonios: it is a strange scenery of ochre,        provide food,
                                                                                                                               water, tools and
                                                                            pink and black rocks, corroded by the wind         clothes for
                                                                            and by the tides which render difficult both       everybody
                                                                            landing and embarkation.

44                                                                                                                                                45
C   H   A   P   T   E   R   2




                                                 Aretiou Monastery


                                     T   he religious heart of this little-frequented
                                     territory is the sixteenth-century Aretiou
                                     Monastery (or Monastery of the Holy
                                     Trinity) articulated in various buildings
                                     around an ample courtyard with the
                                     katholikon, the monks' church, which still
                                     contains some precious seventeenth-
                                     century icons. The founder, Marcos
                                     Papadopoulos, gathered around him many
                                     of the famous artists and intellectuals of the
                                     period, and on his death in 1603 he left           Aretiou
                                     generous donations to the monastery asking         Monastery
                                                                                        is a fortified
                                     that they be used to continue his charitable       monastery and
                                     work for the poor, but also to support those       survived the
                                     artists of holy images who were worthy and         Turkish occupa-
                                                                                        tion with no
                                     talented, as was Kosmas Vartzagis, known as        great damage
                                     "the Master of Areti". Surrounded by high
                                     walls, the monastery defended itself well
                                     against the continual attacks by the
                                     Ottomans, and survived. Nowadays Aretiou
                                     Monastery is the most important monastic
                                     complex on the Gulf of Mirambelo and is the
                                     destination for many pilgrims and travellers
                                     in search of tranquillity and reflection.


46                                                                                                        47
C   H   A   P   T   E   R    2




                                                The Cave of Milatos


                                J  ourneying towards the coast one arrives
                                at the village of Milatos built not far from the
                                ruins of the ancient Militos (or Miletus),
                                already inhabited in the Late Minoan period
                                and mentioned by Homer, Strabo and
                                Pausanias. Myth tells that the local ruler,
                                Pindareos, stole Zeus's favourite dog and
 The grotto of                  gave it to Tantalus. For this impudence
 Milatos is formed              Pindareos and his wife were cruelly
 of a series of
                                punished by the gods and condemned to
 caverns and
 corridors stretching           death, while their daughters became slaves
 several miles                  of the Furies. In the third century B.C. Miletus
                                         was destroyed by the inhabitants of
                                         Lyttos: only a few stones and some
                                         tombs carved out of the rock remain
                                         visible.
                                               Even more terrible is the story
                                         of the cave of Milatos, site of a
                                         ferocious massacre at the hands of
                                         the Ottomans. In the February of
                                         1823 around 3600 inhabitants of
                                         the area, men, women and children,
                                rebels, priests and ordinary citizens, took
                                refuge in the deep cavern of Milatos to
                                escape the cruelties of General Hassan
                                Pasha. Betrayed by a Turkish townsman, the
                                cave was besieged for a long period and
     Next page:                 many died of hunger and thirst. Deceived by
     Turning one's              the Turks' false promise that in the case of
     gaze towards the
                                surrender they would spare women and
     mountains, one
     notes a low hill           children, the men left the cavern, but to the
     with the white             cry of "death to the infidels" the massacre of
     church of Ayios
                                the fugitives began. Every last one of them
     Elias: this was the
     peak sanctuary             was killed. In a large space inside the grotto
     of Malia, in which         a catafalque has been laid out with
     the votive
                                commemorative stones and a small cave
     offerings to the
     gods were                  church dedicated to St. Thomas where each
     deposited                  year the martyrs of Milatos are
                                commemorated.

48                                                                                 49
C   H   A    P   T   E   R   2

                                                                               of the Minoans: the Throne Room with stairs
                                                   Malia                       that lead to the upper floor, the banqueting
                                                                               chamber and the crypt, a monumental

                              R  ight on the border between the
                                                                               stairway with beside it a kernos (a circular
                                                                               table with a central hollow and with 34
                              Prefectures of Lasithi and Heraklion the vast    smaller bowls along the edge for the ritual
                              archaeological area of Malia stretches out,      offering of the first fruits), the archive and
     Golden bee               with its grand Minoan palace, second only        a vast portico held up by columns alternated
     pendant from             to Knossos and Phaestos. Tradition has it        with pilasters which gave access to the great
     the Chryssolakos
                              that Malia was the residence of Sarpedon,        palace storerooms.
     cemetery at Malia
                              the younger brother of Minos and                       Other courtyards and numerous
                              Rhadamanthus, all born of the union of Zeus      corridors lead to the wing reserved for
                              and Europa.                                      habitation, to the guest apartments and
                                                                               to the
                                                                               artisans'
                                                                               workshops.
                                                                               Almost all of
                                                                               the spaces are
                                                                               paved with
                                                                               the typical
                                                                               local stone, a
                                                                               bluish
                                                                               limestone,
                                                                               and a
                                                                               sandstone
                                    The most ancient part of the palace        known as
                              dates back to the Middle Minoan period           ammouda.                                         Directly beyond
                                                                                                                                the entrance one
                              (circa 2000 B.C.) but of that era there remain         The necropolis, also known as              can make out the
                              few traces because the site was destroyed by     Chryssolakos ("the gold mine") for the great     huge circular
                              a violent earthquake and completely rebuilt      quantity of gold objects discovered in the       storerooms,
                                                                                                                                called kouloures,
                              in around 1650 B.C.. Smaller than Knossos        tombs, is to be found down by the sea and        which held the
                              and Phaestos, but for this no less interesting   is laid out like the palace of the living with   reserves of grain
                              in its structure and functions - religious,      rooms and porticos. The excavations at Malia     for the
                                                                                                                                population that
                              political and economic - the palace complex      have rendered up a vast quantity of splendid     inhabited the
                              ceased to "live" in 1450 B.C. after a            objects, jewels and ceramics dating from         various quarters
                              devastating fire. The site was discovered        the First Palace period to the Second Palace     around the Palace

 Stone kernos for             in 1915 by the Greek archaeologist Joseph        period, among which are a sceptre in the
 ritual offerings at          Hadjidakis, while from the 1950s onwards         form of a leopard, some very fine jewellery
 the Palace of Malia          the excavations have continued with the          such as the pendant with two bees and
                              French Archaeological School of Athens           a gold pommel from a sword-hilt embossed
                              under the direction of Henri van Effenterre.     with the figure of a vaulting acrobat,
                                    Opening off the great Central Court,       preserved in the museums of Heraklion and
                              with an altar set into the paving, there are     Ayios Nikolaos.
                              a series of rooms essential to court life

50                                                                                                                                                  51
C   H    A   P   T   E   R   2




                                              Tales of Neapoli                                               man, joined the
                                                                                                             rebels and fled to
                                             and surroundings
                                                                                                             the plain of Lasithi.
                                                                                                             Her true identity
                             Travelling back towards Ayios Nikolaos                                          was revealed when
                                                                                                             the swipe of a
                             and passing through a deep gorge crowned
                             by the Monastery of Ayios Georgios Selinari,                                    sword slashed
                             one arrives at Neapoli, a lively agricultural                                   open her clothes,
                             town beneath the mountain of Mavro Dasos                                        but she continued
                             which has a beautiful little museum with                                        to fight until her
                             finds from the excavations of Dreros and                                        death. The
                                                                                                                                     The so-called
                             statues from the Roman era. In 1340 at Kares,                                   monument                "Roman door"
                             the oldest part of Neapoli, a certain Petros                                    commemorating           and white steps
                                                                                                                                     at Houmeriakos
                             Philargi was born, a young man of great                                         this Cretan "Joan
                             intelligence who was sent to study in Paris         of Arc" is to be found at the entrance to the
                             and in Oxford in order to follow a career in        town of Kritsa.
                             the priesthood. He became archbishop of
                             Milan and then cardinal, and finally, at the
                             time of the schism in the Western Church
                             (which saw the curia of Rome in opposition
                             to that of Avignon) Petrus Philatri was made
 The small Museum            Pope, taking the name of Alexander V: he
 of Neapoli contains         held the position for only a year, from 1409
 an important
 collection of statues
                             to 1410 and died poisoned by his
 from Classical and          adversaries.
 Roman times                      A few kilometres from Neapoli, in the
                             little village of Houmeriakos there remain
                             some traces of Venetian influence, among
                                                     which a little villa with
                                                     an attractive ashlar-            Again travelling on from Neapoli,
                                                     work doorway, which         climbing up in the direction of the Lasithi         The monastery
                                                     the Cretans call a          plateau, one can visit Kremaston                    of Kremaston was
                                                     Roman door. The town        Monastery, sited on a rocky ridge (hence its
                                                                                                                                     recently restored
                                                     chronicles recount          name which means "suspended"), which is
                                                     that in this house there    inhabited by a community of monks.
                                                     once lived a Turk           Founded in 1593 and built like a small fort,
                                                     called Hussein who          the monastery has been rebuilt several
                                                     having fallen for the       times, and in the twentieth century opened
 The fountain in
                                                     daughter of the local       a school for children and ceded its
 Houmeriakos was             priest, kidnapped her with the intention of         agricultural lands to the Agricultural
 built during the            making her his lover. But at nightfall the
 long Turkish                                                                    Commission which turned them into a
 occupation of
                             maiden strangled the pasha, let herself             model farm.
 Crete                       down from the window disguised as a

52                                                                                                                                                       53
Discover The Unknown Crete
CHAPTER 3



 FROM COAST TO COAST
THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS




                        IERAPETRA

                        GOURNIA

                        VASILIKI

                        EPISKOPI

                        KAVOUSI

                        CHAMEZI

                        ACHLADIA

                        MOCHLOS

                          PSIRA
C     H   A   P   T   E   R     3



                                              Where nature is king




                              BCrete narrows like aIerapetra theand
                                 etween Istron and               island
                              of                    bottleneck
 Near Istron the              stretches a mere 16 kilometres between
 waters of the gulf           the gulf of Mirambelo and the Libyan sea.
 of Mirambelo are
 a deep turquoise             The trip will take us through the villages of
 in contrast with             the Thryptis and Orno mountains as far as
 the grey rocks,              the gates of Sitia. Here nature reigns, barely
 the evergreen
 trees and the                grazed by the hand of man: centuries-old
 rock-plants in               olive trees, wild figs, shady plane trees,
 bloom                        flower-filled fields, arid open spaces, deep
                              gorges, small torrents and multicoloured
                              rocks.




58                                                                             59
C   H   A   P   T   E    R   3



                                           From Gournia to Ierapetra


                               A short deviation from the main coastal                                                        In the Middle
                                                                                                                              Minoan period
                               road leads us towards the Monastery of
                                                                                                                              Gournia had its own
                               Faneromeni, clinging to the mountain top.                                                      local governor who
                               The road meanders amid bushes of thyme                                                         resided in a palace
                                                                                                                              high on the hill
                               and sage as far as the little cave church of
                               the monastery which houses a precious icon
                               of the "Death of the Virgin", believed to have
     Orthodox                  miraculous powers. Legend tells of a
     monasteries
     are always
                               shepherd who had lost his way during the
     hidden                    night, but was drawn to a light in the                The several-floored houses and the
     away in silent            darkness: it came from the holy icon and, in     shops, which face onto the lanes, the steps
     places far from
                               thanks to the Virgin who had helped him          and around the marketplace, form a
     the crowds
                               find his way once more, the first church of      compact urban weave where the walls back
                               Faneromeni was erected on the site.              one onto the other and often share roofs.
                                                                                The excavations between 1901 and 1904 by
                                                                                the American archaeologist
                                                                                Harriet Boyd-Hawes, have
                                                                                yielded up many brightly-
                                                                                coloured ceramics with
                                                                                marine motifs and various
                                                                                everyday objects like mortars,
                                                                                millstones and jars for oil and
                                                                                for wine. Continuing on
                                                                                towards Ierapetra one can see
                                                                                the remains of the Proto-Minoan settlement
                                     Back on the main road, the ancient city
                                                                                of Vasiliki, almost directly opposite the
                               of Gournia appears, luminous, on a low hill,
                                                                                clean break made by the Ha gorge which
                               like a map open to the skies: one can clearly
                                                                                looks as though it had been cut open
                               see the walls of the houses, the streets and
                               the courtyards, so much so that it is known
                               as the "Minoan Pompei". Already inhabited
                               in the Early- and Middle-Minoan era, the                                                       At the foot of
                                                                                                                              the Ha gorge
                               ruins that we see today belong largely to the                                                  archaeologists
                               Late Minoan era (circa 1600 B.C.) and to the                                                   have discovered
                               period of the arrival of the Mycenaeans who                                                    remains of an
                                                                                                                              ancient settlement
                               erected a sanctuary here. The inhabitants of
                               Gournia were artisans, merchants and
     Gournia, the              fishermen, but they too wanted to erect a
     "Minoan Pompei"
                               palace and a theatre space of their own
                               modelled on Knossos, naturally much
                               inferior in scale.

60                                                                                                                                                 61
C   H   A    P   T   E   R   3




                                                                                 with one triangular pediment and one
                                                                                 arched, and by an unusual brick dome with
                                                                                 many niches that were once frescoed.
                                                                                     Ierapetra, the ancient Hierapytna,
                                                                                 is the largest port-town on the southern
                                                                                 coast of Crete. It grew to be an important
                                                                                 centre in the Graeco-Roman era when it was
                                                                                 furnished with temples, baths, an
                                                                                 amphitheatre and two theatres, porticos
                                                                                 and an aqueduct, of which, however, there
                                                                                 remains no trace. In the thirteenth century
                                                                                 the Venetians built an imposing castle with
                                                                                 battlements and ramparts. The Turks also
     The inner walls            by a giant's sword. Vasiliki too, lying in the
     of the houses
                                                                                 embellished Ierapetra with mosques and
                                shade of wind-bent olive trees, retains the
     of Vasiliki were                                                            fountains and there are corners of the city
     originally                 perfect outline of the city layout and is
                                                                                 that retain a decidedly oriental aspect.
     plastered and              famous for the discovery of a great quantity
     painted red                of "flame-mottled" pottery with decorations
                                in red and black, known as Vasiliki Ware. The
                                corners of the small complex are orientated
                                towards the four points of the compass, as                                                     The Venetian and
                                                                                                                               Ottoman ruins are
                                was the practice in the constructions of Asia                                                  the most attractive
                                Minor: the settlement was destroyed.                                                           monuments in
                                      The town of Episkopi, midway along                                                       Ierapetra, while
                                                                                                                               nothing has
                                our route, has ancient origins as is testified                                                 survived from the
                                by the sarcophagi found by pure chance                                                         Minoan, Greek or
                                whilst road works were being done near                                                         Roman periods
                                the double church of Ayios Georgios and
                                Ayios Haralambos. The church dates back to
                                the seventh or eighth century and is
                                                                                     On 26th June 1798 the city had an
                                characterised by the double facades
                                                                                 illustrious guest in the person of Napoleon
                                                                                 Bonaparte who, returning from the Egyptian
                                                                                 campaign, spent a night here in a small
                                                                                 house (now known as spiti tu Napoleonta or
                                                                                 Napoleon’s House) not far from the church
                                                                                 of Afendi Christou.
                                                                                     Ierapetra has a fine Archaeological
                                                                                 Museum with glass cabinets brimming with
                                                                                 Minoan finds, ceramics, painted sarcophagi
                                                                                 and statues dating from the Classical,
                                                                                 Hellenistic and Roman eras.



62                                                                                                                                                   63
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete
Discover The Unknown Crete

Mais conteúdo relacionado

Mais procurados

Barbados, The Merricks
Barbados, The MerricksBarbados, The Merricks
Barbados, The Merricksdantea
 
Spencer Bahamas Option
Spencer Bahamas OptionSpencer Bahamas Option
Spencer Bahamas Optionchglat
 
David Great Exuma
David Great ExumaDavid Great Exuma
David Great Exumachglat
 
Coto Living Coto Has Great Taste October 2012
Coto Living Coto Has Great Taste October 2012Coto Living Coto Has Great Taste October 2012
Coto Living Coto Has Great Taste October 2012Marco Criscuolo
 
Wine, Cinque Terre
Wine, Cinque TerreWine, Cinque Terre
Wine, Cinque Terremiraworld
 
Top 10 plaje din Europa by TripAdvisor
Top 10 plaje din Europa by TripAdvisorTop 10 plaje din Europa by TripAdvisor
Top 10 plaje din Europa by TripAdvisorJoePopov
 
Excellence el carmen josh
Excellence el carmen joshExcellence el carmen josh
Excellence el carmen joshchglat
 
Excellence el carmen kendall
Excellence el carmen kendallExcellence el carmen kendall
Excellence el carmen kendallchglat
 
Online Mapping Tools Actfl08
Online Mapping Tools Actfl08Online Mapping Tools Actfl08
Online Mapping Tools Actfl08Barbara Lindsey
 
Excellence El Carmen
Excellence El CarmenExcellence El Carmen
Excellence El Carmenchglat
 
Keenan Honeymoon
Keenan HoneymoonKeenan Honeymoon
Keenan Honeymoonchglat
 
Excellence El Carmen
Excellence El Carmen Excellence El Carmen
Excellence El Carmen chglat
 

Mais procurados (20)

Barbados, The Merricks
Barbados, The MerricksBarbados, The Merricks
Barbados, The Merricks
 
Spencer Bahamas Option
Spencer Bahamas OptionSpencer Bahamas Option
Spencer Bahamas Option
 
Ired Mansions In The Park Timisoara
Ired Mansions In The Park TimisoaraIred Mansions In The Park Timisoara
Ired Mansions In The Park Timisoara
 
Put-in-Bay Island Guide
Put-in-Bay Island GuidePut-in-Bay Island Guide
Put-in-Bay Island Guide
 
Barbados
BarbadosBarbados
Barbados
 
Ani Villas Anguilla
Ani Villas AnguillaAni Villas Anguilla
Ani Villas Anguilla
 
David Great Exuma
David Great ExumaDavid Great Exuma
David Great Exuma
 
Coto Living Coto Has Great Taste October 2012
Coto Living Coto Has Great Taste October 2012Coto Living Coto Has Great Taste October 2012
Coto Living Coto Has Great Taste October 2012
 
Wine, Cinque Terre
Wine, Cinque TerreWine, Cinque Terre
Wine, Cinque Terre
 
Top 10 plaje din Europa by TripAdvisor
Top 10 plaje din Europa by TripAdvisorTop 10 plaje din Europa by TripAdvisor
Top 10 plaje din Europa by TripAdvisor
 
Excellence el carmen josh
Excellence el carmen joshExcellence el carmen josh
Excellence el carmen josh
 
Excellence el carmen kendall
Excellence el carmen kendallExcellence el carmen kendall
Excellence el carmen kendall
 
Online Mapping Tools Actfl08
Online Mapping Tools Actfl08Online Mapping Tools Actfl08
Online Mapping Tools Actfl08
 
Excellence El Carmen
Excellence El CarmenExcellence El Carmen
Excellence El Carmen
 
Fact Sheet
Fact SheetFact Sheet
Fact Sheet
 
Keenan Honeymoon
Keenan HoneymoonKeenan Honeymoon
Keenan Honeymoon
 
ZNI Fact Sheet
ZNI Fact SheetZNI Fact Sheet
ZNI Fact Sheet
 
Cyprus sublime
Cyprus sublimeCyprus sublime
Cyprus sublime
 
Surry Hills
Surry HillsSurry Hills
Surry Hills
 
Excellence El Carmen
Excellence El Carmen Excellence El Carmen
Excellence El Carmen
 

Semelhante a Discover The Unknown Crete

Semelhante a Discover The Unknown Crete (20)

Bluegr Mamidakis Hotels - Candia Park Village
Bluegr Mamidakis Hotels - Candia Park VillageBluegr Mamidakis Hotels - Candia Park Village
Bluegr Mamidakis Hotels - Candia Park Village
 
Villas summer catalogue - 2011
Villas summer catalogue  - 2011Villas summer catalogue  - 2011
Villas summer catalogue - 2011
 
Unik
UnikUnik
Unik
 
Sun-Kissed Dreams Pinpointing the Best Greek Island for Beach.pdf
Sun-Kissed Dreams  Pinpointing the Best Greek Island for Beach.pdfSun-Kissed Dreams  Pinpointing the Best Greek Island for Beach.pdf
Sun-Kissed Dreams Pinpointing the Best Greek Island for Beach.pdf
 
Villas summer catalogue 2011
Villas summer catalogue 2011Villas summer catalogue 2011
Villas summer catalogue 2011
 
Invitation to budapest 2010
Invitation to budapest 2010Invitation to budapest 2010
Invitation to budapest 2010
 
Full seafire presentation-compress
Full seafire presentation-compressFull seafire presentation-compress
Full seafire presentation-compress
 
Kristen
Kristen Kristen
Kristen
 
CostaNavarinoBrochure2014
CostaNavarinoBrochure2014CostaNavarinoBrochure2014
CostaNavarinoBrochure2014
 
Ventomarino Paros e-brochure
Ventomarino Paros e-brochureVentomarino Paros e-brochure
Ventomarino Paros e-brochure
 
Brittany
Brittany Brittany
Brittany
 
costanavarinoGOLF
costanavarinoGOLFcostanavarinoGOLF
costanavarinoGOLF
 
PLDT Cook Islands
PLDT Cook IslandsPLDT Cook Islands
PLDT Cook Islands
 
The Estates At Acqualina
The Estates At Acqualina The Estates At Acqualina
The Estates At Acqualina
 
Greece tours from athens
Greece tours from athensGreece tours from athens
Greece tours from athens
 
Skyprime Group-Project Map
Skyprime Group-Project MapSkyprime Group-Project Map
Skyprime Group-Project Map
 
Cristal Beach Resort
Cristal Beach ResortCristal Beach Resort
Cristal Beach Resort
 
argos in Cappadocia- Luxury Cappadocia Hotel
argos in Cappadocia- Luxury Cappadocia Hotelargos in Cappadocia- Luxury Cappadocia Hotel
argos in Cappadocia- Luxury Cappadocia Hotel
 
Sicily
SicilySicily
Sicily
 
Sicily
SicilySicily
Sicily
 

Último

Planning a Memorable Day What to Look For In Murrells Inlet Fishing Charters
Planning a Memorable Day What to Look For In Murrells Inlet Fishing ChartersPlanning a Memorable Day What to Look For In Murrells Inlet Fishing Charters
Planning a Memorable Day What to Look For In Murrells Inlet Fishing ChartersCrazy Sister Marina
 
Nanbokucho-period, Historical Origins of Modern Japan
Nanbokucho-period, Historical Origins of Modern JapanNanbokucho-period, Historical Origins of Modern Japan
Nanbokucho-period, Historical Origins of Modern Japanseijibrown2
 
Reflective Essay for global competency certificate
Reflective Essay for global competency certificateReflective Essay for global competency certificate
Reflective Essay for global competency certificateseijibrown2
 
2024 Annual Meeting: Visit Portland, Maine
2024 Annual Meeting: Visit Portland, Maine2024 Annual Meeting: Visit Portland, Maine
2024 Annual Meeting: Visit Portland, MaineVisit Portland
 
Culture and Identity through English as a Lingua Franca (1).pdf
Culture and Identity through English as a Lingua Franca (1).pdfCulture and Identity through English as a Lingua Franca (1).pdf
Culture and Identity through English as a Lingua Franca (1).pdfseijibrown2
 
How To Prepare For An Unforgettable Blackwater Dive In Kona
How To Prepare For An Unforgettable Blackwater Dive In KonaHow To Prepare For An Unforgettable Blackwater Dive In Kona
How To Prepare For An Unforgettable Blackwater Dive In KonaKona Ocean Adventures
 
A Presentation of Braga. It was made by students of school
A Presentation of Braga. It was made by students of schoolA Presentation of Braga. It was made by students of school
A Presentation of Braga. It was made by students of schoolApostolos Syropoulos
 
TOURIST & ITS TYPE &MOTIVETIONAL FACTORS & BEHAVIOR .pptx
TOURIST & ITS TYPE &MOTIVETIONAL  FACTORS & BEHAVIOR .pptxTOURIST & ITS TYPE &MOTIVETIONAL  FACTORS & BEHAVIOR .pptx
TOURIST & ITS TYPE &MOTIVETIONAL FACTORS & BEHAVIOR .pptxkittustudy7
 
The West Coast Trail Presentation for SAIT international students
The West Coast Trail Presentation for SAIT international studentsThe West Coast Trail Presentation for SAIT international students
The West Coast Trail Presentation for SAIT international studentsseijibrown2
 
Traveling by Train in Sicily: A New Era of Comfort and Convenience
Traveling by Train in Sicily: A New Era of Comfort and ConvenienceTraveling by Train in Sicily: A New Era of Comfort and Convenience
Traveling by Train in Sicily: A New Era of Comfort and ConvenienceTime for Sicily
 
Reflective Essay.pdf for Global Compentency
Reflective Essay.pdf for Global CompentencyReflective Essay.pdf for Global Compentency
Reflective Essay.pdf for Global Compentencyseijibrown2
 
My presentation on vietnam for Intercultural Communications
My presentation on vietnam for Intercultural CommunicationsMy presentation on vietnam for Intercultural Communications
My presentation on vietnam for Intercultural Communicationsseijibrown2
 
Culture and Identity through English as a Lingua Franca.pdf
Culture and Identity through English as a Lingua Franca.pdfCulture and Identity through English as a Lingua Franca.pdf
Culture and Identity through English as a Lingua Franca.pdfseijibrown2
 
COMPLETE BENEFITS OF RELOCATING TO CANADA 1.pdf
COMPLETE BENEFITS OF RELOCATING TO CANADA 1.pdfCOMPLETE BENEFITS OF RELOCATING TO CANADA 1.pdf
COMPLETE BENEFITS OF RELOCATING TO CANADA 1.pdfOfficial Mark Daniels
 
Vietnam presentation for intercultural communications class
Vietnam presentation for intercultural communications classVietnam presentation for intercultural communications class
Vietnam presentation for intercultural communications classseijibrown2
 
Da Nang Tourist Attractions, VN (越南 峴港旅遊景點).ppsx
Da Nang Tourist Attractions, VN (越南 峴港旅遊景點).ppsxDa Nang Tourist Attractions, VN (越南 峴港旅遊景點).ppsx
Da Nang Tourist Attractions, VN (越南 峴港旅遊景點).ppsxChung Yen Chang
 
pics from luxembourg exchange program 2016
pics from luxembourg exchange program 2016pics from luxembourg exchange program 2016
pics from luxembourg exchange program 2016seijibrown2
 
Do's & Don't at Turkish Airlines Mogadishu Office Address.pdf
Do's & Don't  at Turkish Airlines Mogadishu Office Address.pdfDo's & Don't  at Turkish Airlines Mogadishu Office Address.pdf
Do's & Don't at Turkish Airlines Mogadishu Office Address.pdfGlenna Glenna
 

Último (19)

Planning a Memorable Day What to Look For In Murrells Inlet Fishing Charters
Planning a Memorable Day What to Look For In Murrells Inlet Fishing ChartersPlanning a Memorable Day What to Look For In Murrells Inlet Fishing Charters
Planning a Memorable Day What to Look For In Murrells Inlet Fishing Charters
 
Nanbokucho-period, Historical Origins of Modern Japan
Nanbokucho-period, Historical Origins of Modern JapanNanbokucho-period, Historical Origins of Modern Japan
Nanbokucho-period, Historical Origins of Modern Japan
 
Reflective Essay for global competency certificate
Reflective Essay for global competency certificateReflective Essay for global competency certificate
Reflective Essay for global competency certificate
 
2024 Annual Meeting: Visit Portland, Maine
2024 Annual Meeting: Visit Portland, Maine2024 Annual Meeting: Visit Portland, Maine
2024 Annual Meeting: Visit Portland, Maine
 
Culture and Identity through English as a Lingua Franca (1).pdf
Culture and Identity through English as a Lingua Franca (1).pdfCulture and Identity through English as a Lingua Franca (1).pdf
Culture and Identity through English as a Lingua Franca (1).pdf
 
How To Prepare For An Unforgettable Blackwater Dive In Kona
How To Prepare For An Unforgettable Blackwater Dive In KonaHow To Prepare For An Unforgettable Blackwater Dive In Kona
How To Prepare For An Unforgettable Blackwater Dive In Kona
 
A Presentation of Braga. It was made by students of school
A Presentation of Braga. It was made by students of schoolA Presentation of Braga. It was made by students of school
A Presentation of Braga. It was made by students of school
 
TOURIST & ITS TYPE &MOTIVETIONAL FACTORS & BEHAVIOR .pptx
TOURIST & ITS TYPE &MOTIVETIONAL  FACTORS & BEHAVIOR .pptxTOURIST & ITS TYPE &MOTIVETIONAL  FACTORS & BEHAVIOR .pptx
TOURIST & ITS TYPE &MOTIVETIONAL FACTORS & BEHAVIOR .pptx
 
The West Coast Trail Presentation for SAIT international students
The West Coast Trail Presentation for SAIT international studentsThe West Coast Trail Presentation for SAIT international students
The West Coast Trail Presentation for SAIT international students
 
Traveling by Train in Sicily: A New Era of Comfort and Convenience
Traveling by Train in Sicily: A New Era of Comfort and ConvenienceTraveling by Train in Sicily: A New Era of Comfort and Convenience
Traveling by Train in Sicily: A New Era of Comfort and Convenience
 
Reflective Essay.pdf for Global Compentency
Reflective Essay.pdf for Global CompentencyReflective Essay.pdf for Global Compentency
Reflective Essay.pdf for Global Compentency
 
My presentation on vietnam for Intercultural Communications
My presentation on vietnam for Intercultural CommunicationsMy presentation on vietnam for Intercultural Communications
My presentation on vietnam for Intercultural Communications
 
Culture and Identity through English as a Lingua Franca.pdf
Culture and Identity through English as a Lingua Franca.pdfCulture and Identity through English as a Lingua Franca.pdf
Culture and Identity through English as a Lingua Franca.pdf
 
COMPLETE BENEFITS OF RELOCATING TO CANADA 1.pdf
COMPLETE BENEFITS OF RELOCATING TO CANADA 1.pdfCOMPLETE BENEFITS OF RELOCATING TO CANADA 1.pdf
COMPLETE BENEFITS OF RELOCATING TO CANADA 1.pdf
 
Vietnam presentation for intercultural communications class
Vietnam presentation for intercultural communications classVietnam presentation for intercultural communications class
Vietnam presentation for intercultural communications class
 
Mathura to Ayodhya Tour by Tempo Traveller
Mathura to Ayodhya Tour by Tempo TravellerMathura to Ayodhya Tour by Tempo Traveller
Mathura to Ayodhya Tour by Tempo Traveller
 
Da Nang Tourist Attractions, VN (越南 峴港旅遊景點).ppsx
Da Nang Tourist Attractions, VN (越南 峴港旅遊景點).ppsxDa Nang Tourist Attractions, VN (越南 峴港旅遊景點).ppsx
Da Nang Tourist Attractions, VN (越南 峴港旅遊景點).ppsx
 
pics from luxembourg exchange program 2016
pics from luxembourg exchange program 2016pics from luxembourg exchange program 2016
pics from luxembourg exchange program 2016
 
Do's & Don't at Turkish Airlines Mogadishu Office Address.pdf
Do's & Don't  at Turkish Airlines Mogadishu Office Address.pdfDo's & Don't  at Turkish Airlines Mogadishu Office Address.pdf
Do's & Don't at Turkish Airlines Mogadishu Office Address.pdf
 

Discover The Unknown Crete

  • 2. The G. & A. Mamidakis Foundation, has for two decades now made ongoing efforts to present to the public major cultural events, always directly related to Tourism. Taking as our point of departure our native island of Crete, a crossroads of cultures from East and West, we have sought to propose seminal exhibitions of Greek and international Contemporary Art for art lovers. Perhaps unique for the 48 sculptures on display in its gardens, the MINOS BEACH ART HOTEL boasts of a substantial collection of works by leading Greek and international artists. Continuing our cultural activities today, we have established, illustrated, documented and explored untrodden paths of Eastern Crete in a tasty 144-page catalogue titled: Awake your Senses Discover the unknown Crete Eastern Crete - book one We trust that the publication of these practical catalogues, which also provide information about other unknown destinations-monasteries, archaeological sites-will enable modern-day travellers to experience another side of Crete, the authentic, unexplored inland regions of the island, just like the international travellers who discovered and recorded the charms of our land in the 17th and 18th centuries. Gina Mamidakis President G. & A. Mamidakis Foundation
  • 3. JUDITH LANGE MARIA STEFOSSI awake your senses DISCOVER THE UNKNOWN CRETE Eastern Crete - Book One Publication of this book has been made possible thanks to Gina Mamidakis, President of the G.& A. Foundation and bluegr Mamidakis Hotels group, and long-time patron of culture and the arts. The book is dedicated to those ever-curious travellers who wish to learn more of the beautiful region of eastern Crete. © copyright text and photographs by Judith Lange - Maria Stefossi © copyright edition by the G.& A. Foundation and bluegr Mamidakis hotels group. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the authors.
  • 4. Crete is the island of which Homer sang, "Along the wine- dark sea, by water ringed, there lies a land both fair and fertile", a mysterious and magical land, source of the myths of the Greek world. Zeus, king of the gods of the ancient Greeks, was born in a grotto here, and it was here too that he died and came back to life. This book tells of the beauty of eastern Crete, of the Prefecture of Lasithi, with its mountain ranges, vast plateaus, fertile valleys, arid plains, magnificent beaches and its ancient memories. To discover the authentic Crete one must travel slowly, drawn by curiosity not only to the great archaeological sites and monuments, but also to the landscape and the sky, the houses and the rocks, because on Crete everything is myth, legend and history: the mountains, the grottoes, the gorges, the trees, the stones and even the scent of the shrubs in bloom. 4 5
  • 5. MINOS BEACH art hotel MINOS BEACH art hotel You can awaken your senses at Minos Beach Art hotel, with its unique artistic environment of 45 works of Greek and foreign artists. A local and international culinary choice of traditional Cretan cuisine and unique gourmet tastes for exquisite dining in our restaurants or enjoy an array of thirst-quenching cocktails in Escape in style our two bars. Experience the wonder of Cretan luxury with aromatic gardens and distinctive architecture. Located on the waterfront in the magical area of Ayios Nikolaos, in the eastern part of Crete, the town centre is a mere ten minute An abundance of walk away. recreational activities and leisure facilities will Set within a serene landscape and unique environs thus ensuring ensure fun and an unforgettable experience in one of the 129 beautifully and entertainment spaciously appointed bungalows. All are equipped with balconies throughout your stay or private terrace with unique views of the azure sea and in an environment of extensive gardens, air-condition, direct dial telephone, mini bar, tranquillity and luxury. TV, in room safe, hairdryer and bathroom. Our Executive and Presidential suites are spacious and offer a private swimming pool. 6 7
  • 6. CANDIA PARK VILLAGE CANDIA PARK VILLAGE Experience a world of fun and recreation Candia Park Village is an ideal place for families and couples of all ages. Modelled on a traditional Cretan village, all 222 apartments are spaciously equipped and offer a magnificent waterfront location overlooking the turquoise waters of Mirabello Bay. Set in the environs of a traditional Cretan Village with extensive gardens, the clock square, the Greek coffee house, all add to the charm of this picturesque village of traditional hospitality. The Candia Park Village is a complete holiday village making it the ideal place for relaxation and amusement. Facilities include sea water and fresh water swimming pools, Jacuzzi, tennis courts, private beach, water sports and recreational areas for all tastes and age groups. The highlight is our mini club for our young friends from 4 to 12 years of age that offers stimulating activities, competitions and games. All apartments are spacious of 40 m2 and 60 m2 offering private balconies or terrace. Each can accommodate from 2 to 6 persons and are fully equipped with airconditioning, bathroom, direct dial telephone and a kitchenette to prepare afternoon coffee or tea or perhaps a light meal. A variety of restaurants with a wide choice of a la carte items, sunny bars for thirst-quenching drinks and light snacks provide a unique ambience with panoramic views of Mirabello bay. A mini market is available. 8 9
  • 7. CHAPTER 1 SACRED AND PROFANE IN THE SHADOW OF MOUNT DIKTI AYIOS NIKOLAOS KRITSA PANAYIA Y KERA LATO KATHARO LASSITHI KARPHI
  • 8. C H A P T E R 1 Ayios Nikolaos Xepatomeni (bottomless), sacred to Athena and Artemis who, as the legend goes, bathed their divine bodies here. The city declined after the Roman conquest but acquired new importance during the Byzantine period, when it became the seat of the bishopric of Kamara: of that era there remains the little church of Ayios Nikolaos of the tenth or eleventh century, with rare frescoes from the iconoclast period when the ecclesiastical authorities forbad the physical representation of sacred images. At the beginning of the thirteenth century the Genoese and Venetians fought for possession of the coast and initially the Genoese, led by the gentleman-pirate Enrico Pescatore, prevailed. Pescatore erected the The small church of An engraving It is hard to imagine that a century and castle of Mirambelo, promptly destroyed by the Venetians to whom the island of Crete Ayios Nikolaos dating from the representing the a half ago Ayios Nikolaos - one of Crete's was assigned by the treaty of Adrianoupoli tenth or eleventh Venetian castle of richest and liveliest cities - was, as an old century Ayios Nikolaos: in 1204. today nothing document attests, only a tiny village of just Hurriedly reconstructed, the castle was remains of this 95 souls. Ayios Nikolaos, capital of the briefly occupied by the Turks in 1645, then fortress Prefecture of Lasithi, has the appearance of Lake Voulismeni a relatively new city, but its history is very ancient, even if the evidence of its turbulent past is now buried under modern buildings. Thanks to its splendid position overlooking the gulf of Mirambelo (or as the Venetian has it, Mirabello or "beautiful view") the site was chosen by the ancient Dorians (ninth to seventh centuries B.C.) for the port of Lato, an important fortified settlement between the mountains near Kritsa. The city was then called Lato pros Kamara and was famous for its safe harbour. One of the wonders of the place was considered to be the small lake of Voulismeni - today linked to the sea by a narrow canal and surrounded The excavations of the ancient town in by restaurants and cafes - a lake of dark and the city unfathomable waters, also known as 12 13
  • 9. C H A P T E R 1 ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM OF AYIOS NIKOLAOS Skull with a wreath of gold leaves taken back by the Venetians who, however, from the Roman cemetery at decided to destroy it once more themselves Potamos, first century A.D. and Late Minoan clay sarcophagi or for the sake of not leaving it in Turkish larnakes hands: not one stone remains of the celebrated fort atop the highest hill of Ayios Nikolaos. The city was entirely abandoned when, during the second half of the nineteenth Late Minoan century, groups of exiled female sfakiotes arrived from the worshipper from the mountains of western Crete, cemetery at and the place slowly began to Myrsini come to life again. From that moment onwards the reborn city would be called Ayios Nikolaos, taking its name from the little ninth-century Byzantine church which was the only surviving testimony to Pottery dating have resisted all the turbulence from the Late of this history. Every 6th Minoan period December there is a great feast dedicated to St. Nicholas, A medieval patron saint of fishermen. Clay vessel archer from the One must is a visit to the city's from the region of Sfakia: fourteenth during the Archaeological Museum which possesses century B.C. nineteenth beautiful finds from the past forty years of found in the century many excavations in eastern Crete: ceramics, gold, Palace of Malia sfakiotes arrived and in Ayios Nikolaos idols (among which there are a large number Daedalic of votive offerings from the Minoan peak figurines from sanctuaries), sarcophagi and glass. the eighth and seventh centuries B.C. 14
  • 10. C H A P T E R 1 Kritsa and Panayia y Kera Among the narrow alleyways of Kritsa Kritsaastretches outtrees aatwhitemouth of a like lizard above sea of olive the dark gorge beneath the mountain heights of the Dikti that surround two high plains, the immense Lasithi plateau and the more na of the Creation) dating from the modest Katharo plateau. thirteenth or fourteenth century, with three naves and an unusual three-pointed facade, surrounded by tall cypresses. The arrangement of the paintings that cover each of the internal walls observes the rigid hierarchy required in that period: first God and the angels, then the life of Jesus and Mary, followed by representations of Paradise and the Last Judgement, biblical stories, saints and, finally, images of men known for their faith. Kritsa, with its narrow alleyways, the low The saturated colours (the dark red of ripe houses jumbled one over another, its very pomegranates, the green of the leaves of colourful traditional costumes, its numerous ancient olive trees, the ochre and dark kafeneion and taverns, seems the archetypal brown of the earth) and the close-packed "Cretan village", even if the definition sequence of images, each different, each "village" seems reductive for this fairly large, powerful and vigorous, immersed in the The Byzantine extended country town. It is so very "Cretan" church of Panayia y semi-darkness, rather dizzy the viewer, and that in 1957 the American film director Jules Kera with its The white village this was, perhaps, precisely what the artist beautiful frescoes Dassin chose Kritsa and its inhabitants for of Kritsa above a intended. green valley of the setting of the film He, who must die olive trees based on Nikos Kazantzakis' famous novel The Greek Passion which told a modern version of the passion of Christ. Every year on Good Friday there is a sumptuous procession through Kritsa during which the epitaphios, a catafalque covered with flowers, is carried through the town, amidst prayers, laments and song. However, before arriving at Kritsa one should pay a visit to one of the most beautiful and important Byzantine churches on Crete: the Panayia y Kera (the Madon- 16 17
  • 11. C H A P T E R 1 made new laws, minted coins with the Lato effigies of Artemis and Hermes and imposed a new social order on the population of the Lato, once an area. important Dorian Lato was born as a fortified city city-state, amidst a beautiful stretching across six terraces with a double mountainous acropolis, a vast agora and a prytaneion, landscape which functioned as administrative centre and banqueting hall for the guests of honour who dined here sitting on the stone benches of the hestiatorion. A monumental stairway marks the entrance to the prytaneion, while another, not far from a large temple (perhaps dedicated to Apollo) has been identified as the "theatre space". The city flourished up until the Hellenistic period and the ancient writers affirm that this was the birthplace of Niarchos, valorous general and friend of Alexander the Great. As everywhere in Greece, side-by-side, and on Crete the A careful observation of the structure and the materials that form the buildings, the sacred and the profane live if on one hand churches and monasteries roads and the doors is worthwhile: the With its strong walls and record the profound religiousness of the ancient system of construction has been monumental population, numerous ancient ruins evoke handed down through the centuries, and buildings, Lato the foreign powers, wars and conflicts that some of the same architectural details can is the best- preserved of the have tormented the island over the still be seen in the old stone-built country Cretan cities of centuries. Some kilometres before arriving at houses dotted among the mountains the Doric/ Clas- Kritsa a turning off the main road leads to around Kritsa. sical period Lato, one of the island's best-preserved ancient cities, enclosed between two hills below Mount Thylakas. The city-state, which took its name from the goddess Leto, mother of Apollo and Artemis, was founded in the eighth century B.C. by Dorians hailing These small daedalic figurines from the Greek mainland, who invaded are typical of the Crete in around 1000 B.C., chasing the native Doric style of inhabitants from their lands: they spoke a sculpture that flourished during dialect similar to Greek and proclaimed the eighth and themselves descendents of the offspring of seventh centuries Hercules. Strengthened by their absolute B.C. authority over the island after the fall of the Minoan and Mycenaean kingdoms, they 18 19
  • 12. C H A P T E R 1 The Katharo Plateau L ess well-known, smaller and more hidden than Lasithi, the plateau of Katharo is reached via a road (all curves) that begins at the crest of the town of Kritsa. Climbing up amidst silver-grey rocks that glitter in the sunlight in contrast with the red soil, and among low tough-leaved shrubs that form anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures like little sculptures, one has the sensation of travelling through an archaic land, fixed and solid, as though it were petrified. The few trees have dark hat-shaped crowns that give small stone houses of the shepherds and The remains of old stone houses shade to the roots and offer relief to sheep peasants who took refuge here during the or mitates are and goats in search of some cool. months of mountain pasture. Almost always part of the rectangular in form - but also, at times, landscape as much as the circular like the tholos (beehive) tombs - the rocky hills and building of the mitates involved choosing withered trees with care the individual stones, evaluating the shape and dimensions in order to lay them expertly one on top of another until a perfect wall was formed through which there filtered neither sun, nor wind nor rain. At the centre of the single room a robust tree trunk with a forked top functions as a column, holding up the roof of branches and Halfway along the route towards the canes, whilst the entrance is marked by two plateau (where there is a magnificent view vertical pilasters surmounted by a stone slab, across the gulf of Mirambelo) a small road a modest version of the monumental portals sign indicates the existence of a grotto of the ancient cities or of megalithic houses. which is to be found about three-hundred Now abandoned and used only metres further along the slope, not difficult sporadically, the mitates contain small signs to reach. The triangular mouth of the grotto of an austere life: a blackened hearth, the allows a glimpse of a steep descent through occasional cooking pot with a hole in it, two galleries into the dark bowels of the frayed ropes for tying up the animals, or earth amid grey and pink-ochre striped troughs cut into the stone. Observing these rocks. lifeless houses it is natural to wonder how Continuing along the road and looking much longer they will resist sun, wind and A dark grotto on the way to the attentively towards the hills, one notes the rain before crumbling definitively. Katharo plateau mitates - now in ruins and camouflaged in the landscape, but with a very interesting architectural structure: these are the 20 21
  • 13. C H A P T E R 1 Every season Curve after curve, between oaks and From Katharo a stony trail (to follow has its own carobs with their tormented outlines that only in a robust car or on foot) climbs back colours at the Kataharo seem born from the rock, the mountain down towards the coast in the direction of plateau: green suddenly opens out offering a spectacular Kroustas, initially crossing through desolate fields in view over the entire Katharo plateau, landscapes with strange cumuli of dark springtime, yellow earth in surrounded by the bare mountains of the green stones that glitter in the sunlight like summer Dikti. Fields cultivated with grain and shards of glass. The road follows the course vegetables, fruit trees (in particular pears, of an underground river, dry on the surface, apples, figs and pomegranates) and great which creates little oases of green amidst the stretches of meadows for pasture, few stones. Along the highest pass there opens houses, few men and the odd little white up extraordinary scenery: the simultaneous church form a unified and compact pattern. vista of the northern coast of Crete looking The plateau, which in springtime is full of towards Europe and of the southern coast flowers and green grasses, in summer is that looks towards Africa at the point at coloured yellow with stubble and the which the island is narrowest, on one side ploughed soil that becomes as fine and the gulf of Mirambelo and on the other the dusty as face-powder. Katharo is the summer Libyan Sea. A panorama from which one reserve of the people of Kritsa and at given understands the wonders of Cretan periods all the flocks of sheep in the zone geography. converge here for shearing: imagine the From this point one can continue east sound produced by the bleating of along a road that is asphalted only in parts thousands of animals echoing through towards Kroustas and Kritsa or to Istron on the mountains! the coast. Near Kritsa we encounter the church of Ayios Ioannis Theologos with Ayios Ioannis three apses and very beautiful iconostasis and Ayios while near Kroustas one can visit the small Ioannis Theologos: two white church of Ayios Ioannis, decorated churches with with rare paintings dating from 1347, with interesting images of severe saints and fathers of the frescoes and old icons church. 22 23
  • 15. C H A P T E R 1 The Lasithi Plateau S " ituated above the mountain summits, flat and very beautiful, and an almost miraculous work of nature," this is how a Venetian document of 1600 describes the Lasithi plateau. The plain appears like an immense shell, not unlike a spent crater, amid the mountain crags of the Dikti, at a height of around 850 metres: patterned with the rigid and regular geometries of the fields, its divisions recall the city plan of ancient Miletus. Here there grow fruit trees of every kind, vegetables, potatoes, grain and walnuts, and in the spring millions of poppies blossom creating a red carpet that stretches out between the mountains. Isolated houses, small villages and the monasteries of Vidianis and Kroustalenias crown the plateau which, although Not many years ago, when the place was remaining essentially agricultural, has given still only accessible over to an intense tourism. on mule-back, around 10,000 windmills ornate with white canvas sails pumped up the water that served for Monastery Vidianis the crops, but now and Monastery very few remain. Kroustalenia: places of worship 26 27
  • 16. C H A P T E R 1 Once an inaccessible region, the plateau has been inhabited since the The Diktaion Neolithic period, around 7,000 years ago, Antron of as testified by the bone fragments and tools Psychro is discovered in the grotto of Trapeza, which believed to have been the remained sacred for the Minoans, as a birthplace of dwelling place of the gods of the Zeus underworld. Because of its protected position amid the mountains, Lasithi became a place of refuge for the native The grotto of populations from the period of the Dorian Trapeza was a invasions to the Venetian and Turkish site of cult activity up to occupations, and even during the Second western Crete) the honour of being the the Early World War. For fear of the rebel groups, in birthplace of the Greeks on supreme god, Minoan period 1263 the Venetians deported all the Zeus. In Hesiod's Theogony we read that inhabitants of the plateau down towards the Cronus, king of the Titans and husband of his valley, prohibiting any form of cultivation own sister Rhea, devoured his children for 200 years. Without its fruits, this fertile (among whom Demeter, Hades, Poseidon, land suffered terrible famine and in the mid Hestia and Hera) because a prophecy had 1400 s it was decided to repopulate the foretold that one of them would dethrone plain, which in the meantime had become a him. At the birth of Zeus, Rhea tricked swampland requiring large-scale Cronus, having him swallow a rock wrapped reclamation. During the Turkish dominion in swaddling bands in the place of the child, too, Lasithi was continuously besieged, but and immediately afterwards she escaped never completely taken. with the newborn into the grotto of Psychro. Fed on the honey of the bees and the milk of For many centuries the grotto of the goat Amalthea and defended by the Psychro was a place warlike Kouretes who beat their shields hard of worship, from to cover the sound of the infant's cries, Zeus the Middle Minoan period to Roman was saved. Once grown, he killed his cruel times, and rich father (not before having forced him to votive offerings vomit up his siblings), taking on the role of have been found by the archaeologists chief divinity in the Greek pantheon. In 1900, to explore the immense cavern, as dark and humid as maternal placenta, filled with stalactites and stalagmites of the most varied forms and colours, the English archaeologist David Hogarth even had to There are numerous grottos and use dynamite to make a route for himself caverns in the rocky walls around the plain, through the narrow underground ideal hiding places from the most ancient passageways: there he found idols, ceramics, of times. The most famous cave is Psychro cult objects, gold and ivory, seals and jewels, or Diktaion Antron which contends with altars for sacrifices and a niche that was another grotto (that on Mount Ida in identified as the "crib of Zeus". 28 29
  • 17. C H A P T E R 1 Karphi Onemass that rises aboveisLasithi to an particular attraction an enormous rocky altitude of 1,100 metres, visible from far off. The place came to be called Karphi (nail) for its strange cylindrical shape. Below the ragged peaks of the mountain there is hidden a Late Minoan settlement completely camouflaged amid the stone and inhabited from 1150 to 1000 B.C. by the last groups of Minoans - also known as Eteocretans (true Because of its Cretans) - in flight from the Dorian invaders. particular shape, this mountain is The city, which could hold up to 3500 called karphi, inhabitants, was regular in plan like Gournia, meaning nail with the houses built one up against another The Diktaion Antron was also a sacred site for King Minos of Knossos, who every nine years descended into the cavern to receive laws directly from Zeus. All around the plateau, amid low vegetation and scented bushes of broom and thyme there are to be found small villages, some inhabited, others abandoned, lying beneath the slope of the mountains like birds' nests. An excursion on the Dikti, starting from the village of Katofigi, leaves one breathless: lunar landscapes of silver and with steep streets and flights of steps rocks, isolated trees with majestic crowns among the rocky terracing. Explored and rough, stony outcrops alternate with between 1937 and 1939 by the steppe-like terrain and low archaeologist J. D. S. Pendlebury, the site has vegetation from which yielded numerous cult objects (female idols sheepfolds spring up. At times with raised arms, bull horns, bird heads, one's way is barred by fencing rhytons) which testify to the survival of and gates tied shut with knotted Minoan culture and religion even after the ropes to keep in the livestock: fall of the palace kingdoms. they can be opened on the The Eteocretan city condition that one is scrupulous was built on the slope of the giant in closing them again to prevent "nail" the animals from wandering. 30 31
  • 19. CHAPTER 2 THE AUSTERITY OF STONE AND THE SPLENDOURS OF MALIA OLOUS SPINALONGA DREROS KARYDI FOURNI MONI ARETIOU MILATOS MALIA NEAPOLI
  • 20. C H A P T E R 2 The austerity of stone and the splendours of Malia O n Crete there are apparently-forgotten lands, ignored by the normal tourist guides, but which nevertheless possess a particular beauty, "quieter" and hard to define. One of these is the silent and almost uninhabited hinterland above Ayios Nikolaos, Neapoli and Malia, in complete contrast with the overcrowded beaches that stretch out in front of Spinalonga. Following this itinerary, it is a good idea to travel without a precise destination, losing oneself in the hilly landscape, among small, partly-abandoned villages, mills and tumble-down houses, monasteries and white churches. The very stones of this place recall dramatic and painful stories, stories of sieges and of conquests, of the battle against hunger and illnesses of a population in continual revolt against foreign invaders - Dorians, Romans, Saracens, Venetians and Turks. 36 37
  • 21. C H A P T E R 2 Spinalonga L inked to the mainland by a narrow isthmus, the Spinalonga peninsula extends as far as a small rocky islet, it too called Spinalonga. A natural harbour suitable for small boats, Spinalonga has been known since the time of the Minoans, and legend has it that Daedalus, the brilliant architect of Knossos, created for the inhabitants a very beautiful statue of Britomartis (the Cretan The history of the island of Spinalonga Artemis - protectress of hunters and is equally dramatic, famous for the imposing fishermen). Documents from the fourth Venetian fort which was erected in 1579 and century B.C. attest to the existence of a city, considered unassailable because equipped with one of the most powerful batteries of cannon in all Crete. Not even the Turks could succeed in taking it. Only during the first half of the eighteenth century, by which time Venice had lost all authority over Crete, did the Turks take possession of the little island which Olous was a city- Olous, which controlled the maritime traffic then became a smugglers' haunt. In 1903, state in Classical of ships coming from Rhodes and Cyprus after Greece's liberation from foreign Greek times and later became an and which honoured herself in the fight dominion, Spinalonga was transformed into important Christian against the pirates who infested that stretch a leper colony, and the bastions, the cult centre. Of the of coast. In the ninth century Olous was storerooms and the military barracks were Basilica there remains only the occupied by the Saracens, but not long occupied by hundreds of sufferers and their floor with its black afterwards the entire city crumbled thanks families until 1953 when the sanatorium was and white mosaic The island of to a terrible earthquake which was followed closed and the island with its imposing walls decoration Spinalonga was by the sinking of the isthmus. There are few and towers became a tourist attraction. fortified by the traces of Olous still visible on the surface: Climbing up the hills behind Elounda one Venetians in 1579 most of the city was swallowed by the has a magnificent view across the red roofs and was handed over to the waters. On the partly-swampy terrain the of the villages of Epano Elounda and Pines, Ottomans only in foundations of an early Christian basilica of across the olive trees and the low stone 1715 - the last of the seventh century with precious mosaic walls, as far as the bay with its peninsula and Venice's territories on Crete paving, with floral and geometric motifs, the little rock of Spinalonga. dolphins and inscriptions in Greek have been discovered. 38 39
  • 22. C H A P T E R 2 Stone as art the sail-arms are broken, the giant wheels are mute and the cogs rusty. Apart from the windmills there also survives the occasional Acan the seaside resort of Plaka fter old olive-mill, its huge rooms crowned with arches and the remains of antique we abandon the beautiful beaches to search out the quiet of machinery. Those restorations that have the hills, the villages and the great taken place regard only a few mills close to empty spaces where nature has re- the areas frequented by tourists, while the appropriated the land. Many people others are all destined for slow destruction. have abandoned living here, be it for poverty and hunger, be it for lack of natural resources or lack of work. Where once there grew immense fields of corn and where olive trees were cultivated with their small green fruit, to be savoured with a few drops of lemon Far from the juice and raki, now there often remain only beaches a stony outcrops and the outlines of completely windmills that have fallen in on themselves: different world appears with stony they seem spectres, from the past, of a hard fields and old and laborious life, pierced by the lances of abandoned houses. an invisible Cretan Don Quixote doing battle with time and nature. Great halo-like marks In serried ranks like soldiers in arms, Giant windmills are appear alongside the windmills, like magical atop a hill there appear the mills of the silent guardians circles from an archaic ritual; these are level Marnelides near Lakonia, with traces of of this wild and archaic landscape circles of stone raised slightly higher than plaster and well-bolted doors because they the surrounding terrain that served for the are still used by the farmers as storerooms. threshing of the grain with mules or oxen. Along the road between Petros and Dreros, Between Kato and Epano Loumas the two stone giants mills are made of an ochre-coloured stone, protrude among spiny with the remains of steps that follow the thistles: they are curve of the roofless circular buildings: monumental mills, fairly well-preserved, each with an external staircase, a doorway framed with white blocks of stone and a small window. The facade is convex, the stones are perfectly smooth and the overall aspect is one of robustness, but peering inside one notes only a pile of stones, iron and burnt wooden beams. 40 41
  • 23. C H A P T E R 2 Similarly, ancient Dreros, a Dorian city of the eighth century B.C. that survived into the Roman era, is nothing but a mass of stones and low walls dotted amidst thick vegetation. One arrives at the site of Dreros via a path between two hills in an atmospheric landscape, but it takes a lot of imagination to believe that here there once rose up an important archaic city with grand buildings, a vast agora and an grow out of the very mortar of the houses, important seventh-century B.C. temple or Dories, also white, with its beautiful Statues from the Roman era, when dedicated to Apollo Delphinios, of whom church of Ayios Konstatinos, and also Dreros was still a a bronze effigy has been discovered Karydi which has the charm of an authentic living city, are rural village with beautiful stone walling to conserved in the together with two statues representing Museum of Neapoli Artemis and Leto. protect the vegetable gardens and the sown fields from the herds of livestock. Wandering among streets and Stone walls paths traced crossing the hills and small, fertile out by grey plains: signs of stone walls the farmers' toil that snake up and down the hills, one encounters The villages are numerous white and full of villages: the flowers white Fourni full of flowers that seem to 42 43
  • 24. C H A P T E R 2 Many villages have been completely abandoned, like, for example, Hondro- volaki, which overlooks a gorge not far from Valtos: roofless houses, black doorways that look like toothless mouths, empty window Not far from the main square of Karydi, climbing in the direction of the windmills, we find the ruins of the monastery of Chardemutsa, constructed like a fort in a perfect mixture of Venetian and traditional Cretan styles, with a great paved courtyard, a vestibule with pointed arches and large rooms containing old liturgical objects. The ruins of monasteries like casements like blind eyes and streets Chardemutsa or through which stray dogs run, are all that Perambela testify to the religious remains of a village which survives only in devotion of the the memory of inhabitants who will never population, and return. Just as no one will ever again inhabit the noble architecture the beautiful compound of a rural villa close continues to by the village of Ayios Georgios: built of well- remind us of the cut dry stone, with various rooms on several richness of monastic life floors with arches, stone steps, oven and fireplaces and with a spectacular view of the coast, the house must have belonged to a fairly well-off family. The large grounds were terraced almost right down to the sea Some farm houses were very big and and almonds and olive trees still grow there inhabited by large from which no one gathers the fruit. From family clans. This above one sees the ragged coastline with kind of rural complex was few isolated houses, the monastery of Ayios entirely self- Andreas and the cave church of Ayios sufficient and could Antonios: it is a strange scenery of ochre, provide food, water, tools and pink and black rocks, corroded by the wind clothes for and by the tides which render difficult both everybody landing and embarkation. 44 45
  • 25. C H A P T E R 2 Aretiou Monastery T he religious heart of this little-frequented territory is the sixteenth-century Aretiou Monastery (or Monastery of the Holy Trinity) articulated in various buildings around an ample courtyard with the katholikon, the monks' church, which still contains some precious seventeenth- century icons. The founder, Marcos Papadopoulos, gathered around him many of the famous artists and intellectuals of the period, and on his death in 1603 he left Aretiou generous donations to the monastery asking Monastery is a fortified that they be used to continue his charitable monastery and work for the poor, but also to support those survived the artists of holy images who were worthy and Turkish occupa- tion with no talented, as was Kosmas Vartzagis, known as great damage "the Master of Areti". Surrounded by high walls, the monastery defended itself well against the continual attacks by the Ottomans, and survived. Nowadays Aretiou Monastery is the most important monastic complex on the Gulf of Mirambelo and is the destination for many pilgrims and travellers in search of tranquillity and reflection. 46 47
  • 26. C H A P T E R 2 The Cave of Milatos J ourneying towards the coast one arrives at the village of Milatos built not far from the ruins of the ancient Militos (or Miletus), already inhabited in the Late Minoan period and mentioned by Homer, Strabo and Pausanias. Myth tells that the local ruler, Pindareos, stole Zeus's favourite dog and The grotto of gave it to Tantalus. For this impudence Milatos is formed Pindareos and his wife were cruelly of a series of punished by the gods and condemned to caverns and corridors stretching death, while their daughters became slaves several miles of the Furies. In the third century B.C. Miletus was destroyed by the inhabitants of Lyttos: only a few stones and some tombs carved out of the rock remain visible. Even more terrible is the story of the cave of Milatos, site of a ferocious massacre at the hands of the Ottomans. In the February of 1823 around 3600 inhabitants of the area, men, women and children, rebels, priests and ordinary citizens, took refuge in the deep cavern of Milatos to escape the cruelties of General Hassan Pasha. Betrayed by a Turkish townsman, the cave was besieged for a long period and Next page: many died of hunger and thirst. Deceived by Turning one's the Turks' false promise that in the case of gaze towards the surrender they would spare women and mountains, one notes a low hill children, the men left the cavern, but to the with the white cry of "death to the infidels" the massacre of church of Ayios the fugitives began. Every last one of them Elias: this was the peak sanctuary was killed. In a large space inside the grotto of Malia, in which a catafalque has been laid out with the votive commemorative stones and a small cave offerings to the gods were church dedicated to St. Thomas where each deposited year the martyrs of Milatos are commemorated. 48 49
  • 27. C H A P T E R 2 of the Minoans: the Throne Room with stairs Malia that lead to the upper floor, the banqueting chamber and the crypt, a monumental R ight on the border between the stairway with beside it a kernos (a circular table with a central hollow and with 34 Prefectures of Lasithi and Heraklion the vast smaller bowls along the edge for the ritual archaeological area of Malia stretches out, offering of the first fruits), the archive and Golden bee with its grand Minoan palace, second only a vast portico held up by columns alternated pendant from to Knossos and Phaestos. Tradition has it with pilasters which gave access to the great the Chryssolakos that Malia was the residence of Sarpedon, palace storerooms. cemetery at Malia the younger brother of Minos and Other courtyards and numerous Rhadamanthus, all born of the union of Zeus corridors lead to the wing reserved for and Europa. habitation, to the guest apartments and to the artisans' workshops. Almost all of the spaces are paved with the typical local stone, a bluish limestone, and a sandstone The most ancient part of the palace known as dates back to the Middle Minoan period ammouda. Directly beyond the entrance one (circa 2000 B.C.) but of that era there remain The necropolis, also known as can make out the few traces because the site was destroyed by Chryssolakos ("the gold mine") for the great huge circular a violent earthquake and completely rebuilt quantity of gold objects discovered in the storerooms, called kouloures, in around 1650 B.C.. Smaller than Knossos tombs, is to be found down by the sea and which held the and Phaestos, but for this no less interesting is laid out like the palace of the living with reserves of grain in its structure and functions - religious, rooms and porticos. The excavations at Malia for the population that political and economic - the palace complex have rendered up a vast quantity of splendid inhabited the ceased to "live" in 1450 B.C. after a objects, jewels and ceramics dating from various quarters devastating fire. The site was discovered the First Palace period to the Second Palace around the Palace Stone kernos for in 1915 by the Greek archaeologist Joseph period, among which are a sceptre in the ritual offerings at Hadjidakis, while from the 1950s onwards form of a leopard, some very fine jewellery the Palace of Malia the excavations have continued with the such as the pendant with two bees and French Archaeological School of Athens a gold pommel from a sword-hilt embossed under the direction of Henri van Effenterre. with the figure of a vaulting acrobat, Opening off the great Central Court, preserved in the museums of Heraklion and with an altar set into the paving, there are Ayios Nikolaos. a series of rooms essential to court life 50 51
  • 28. C H A P T E R 2 Tales of Neapoli man, joined the rebels and fled to and surroundings the plain of Lasithi. Her true identity Travelling back towards Ayios Nikolaos was revealed when the swipe of a and passing through a deep gorge crowned by the Monastery of Ayios Georgios Selinari, sword slashed one arrives at Neapoli, a lively agricultural open her clothes, town beneath the mountain of Mavro Dasos but she continued which has a beautiful little museum with to fight until her finds from the excavations of Dreros and death. The The so-called statues from the Roman era. In 1340 at Kares, monument "Roman door" the oldest part of Neapoli, a certain Petros commemorating and white steps at Houmeriakos Philargi was born, a young man of great this Cretan "Joan intelligence who was sent to study in Paris of Arc" is to be found at the entrance to the and in Oxford in order to follow a career in town of Kritsa. the priesthood. He became archbishop of Milan and then cardinal, and finally, at the time of the schism in the Western Church (which saw the curia of Rome in opposition to that of Avignon) Petrus Philatri was made The small Museum Pope, taking the name of Alexander V: he of Neapoli contains held the position for only a year, from 1409 an important collection of statues to 1410 and died poisoned by his from Classical and adversaries. Roman times A few kilometres from Neapoli, in the little village of Houmeriakos there remain some traces of Venetian influence, among which a little villa with an attractive ashlar- Again travelling on from Neapoli, work doorway, which climbing up in the direction of the Lasithi The monastery the Cretans call a plateau, one can visit Kremaston of Kremaston was Roman door. The town Monastery, sited on a rocky ridge (hence its recently restored chronicles recount name which means "suspended"), which is that in this house there inhabited by a community of monks. once lived a Turk Founded in 1593 and built like a small fort, called Hussein who the monastery has been rebuilt several having fallen for the times, and in the twentieth century opened The fountain in daughter of the local a school for children and ceded its Houmeriakos was priest, kidnapped her with the intention of agricultural lands to the Agricultural built during the making her his lover. But at nightfall the long Turkish Commission which turned them into a occupation of maiden strangled the pasha, let herself model farm. Crete down from the window disguised as a 52 53
  • 30. CHAPTER 3 FROM COAST TO COAST THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS IERAPETRA GOURNIA VASILIKI EPISKOPI KAVOUSI CHAMEZI ACHLADIA MOCHLOS PSIRA
  • 31. C H A P T E R 3 Where nature is king BCrete narrows like aIerapetra theand etween Istron and island of bottleneck Near Istron the stretches a mere 16 kilometres between waters of the gulf the gulf of Mirambelo and the Libyan sea. of Mirambelo are a deep turquoise The trip will take us through the villages of in contrast with the Thryptis and Orno mountains as far as the grey rocks, the gates of Sitia. Here nature reigns, barely the evergreen trees and the grazed by the hand of man: centuries-old rock-plants in olive trees, wild figs, shady plane trees, bloom flower-filled fields, arid open spaces, deep gorges, small torrents and multicoloured rocks. 58 59
  • 32. C H A P T E R 3 From Gournia to Ierapetra A short deviation from the main coastal In the Middle Minoan period road leads us towards the Monastery of Gournia had its own Faneromeni, clinging to the mountain top. local governor who The road meanders amid bushes of thyme resided in a palace high on the hill and sage as far as the little cave church of the monastery which houses a precious icon of the "Death of the Virgin", believed to have Orthodox miraculous powers. Legend tells of a monasteries are always shepherd who had lost his way during the hidden night, but was drawn to a light in the The several-floored houses and the away in silent darkness: it came from the holy icon and, in shops, which face onto the lanes, the steps places far from thanks to the Virgin who had helped him and around the marketplace, form a the crowds find his way once more, the first church of compact urban weave where the walls back Faneromeni was erected on the site. one onto the other and often share roofs. The excavations between 1901 and 1904 by the American archaeologist Harriet Boyd-Hawes, have yielded up many brightly- coloured ceramics with marine motifs and various everyday objects like mortars, millstones and jars for oil and for wine. Continuing on towards Ierapetra one can see the remains of the Proto-Minoan settlement Back on the main road, the ancient city of Vasiliki, almost directly opposite the of Gournia appears, luminous, on a low hill, clean break made by the Ha gorge which like a map open to the skies: one can clearly looks as though it had been cut open see the walls of the houses, the streets and the courtyards, so much so that it is known as the "Minoan Pompei". Already inhabited in the Early- and Middle-Minoan era, the At the foot of the Ha gorge ruins that we see today belong largely to the archaeologists Late Minoan era (circa 1600 B.C.) and to the have discovered period of the arrival of the Mycenaeans who remains of an ancient settlement erected a sanctuary here. The inhabitants of Gournia were artisans, merchants and Gournia, the fishermen, but they too wanted to erect a "Minoan Pompei" palace and a theatre space of their own modelled on Knossos, naturally much inferior in scale. 60 61
  • 33. C H A P T E R 3 with one triangular pediment and one arched, and by an unusual brick dome with many niches that were once frescoed. Ierapetra, the ancient Hierapytna, is the largest port-town on the southern coast of Crete. It grew to be an important centre in the Graeco-Roman era when it was furnished with temples, baths, an amphitheatre and two theatres, porticos and an aqueduct, of which, however, there remains no trace. In the thirteenth century the Venetians built an imposing castle with battlements and ramparts. The Turks also The inner walls by a giant's sword. Vasiliki too, lying in the of the houses embellished Ierapetra with mosques and shade of wind-bent olive trees, retains the of Vasiliki were fountains and there are corners of the city originally perfect outline of the city layout and is that retain a decidedly oriental aspect. plastered and famous for the discovery of a great quantity painted red of "flame-mottled" pottery with decorations in red and black, known as Vasiliki Ware. The corners of the small complex are orientated towards the four points of the compass, as The Venetian and Ottoman ruins are was the practice in the constructions of Asia the most attractive Minor: the settlement was destroyed. monuments in The town of Episkopi, midway along Ierapetra, while nothing has our route, has ancient origins as is testified survived from the by the sarcophagi found by pure chance Minoan, Greek or whilst road works were being done near Roman periods the double church of Ayios Georgios and Ayios Haralambos. The church dates back to the seventh or eighth century and is On 26th June 1798 the city had an characterised by the double facades illustrious guest in the person of Napoleon Bonaparte who, returning from the Egyptian campaign, spent a night here in a small house (now known as spiti tu Napoleonta or Napoleon’s House) not far from the church of Afendi Christou. Ierapetra has a fine Archaeological Museum with glass cabinets brimming with Minoan finds, ceramics, painted sarcophagi and statues dating from the Classical, Hellenistic and Roman eras. 62 63