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Crete Island: sun and culture

Crete (Kriti) Island lies in the Mediterranean Sea. It is the largest and most well-known island of Greece, situated 100 kilometers south of the Greek mainland. Crete is extremely mountainous. The mountains consist of limestone, with the Ida Psiloritis in the heart of the island with an height of 2456 meters the highest mountain in the region. The Pahnes in the west has an height of 2453 meters. In the winter both mountains are covered with snow. The majority of the breathtaking beaches is situated on the northern coast. Most tourists are spending their holidays in this region.

Crete has a population of 600.000 inhabitants. Heraklion is the largest city with 150.000 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the island. Crete has ferries to and from the island Santorini and Athens, but most tourists fly to the airport of Heraklion. If they want to see more of the island, they need a car or any other way of transportation.

Ancient times

Crete is well-known for its remains of the Minoan culture, named after the legendary ancient king Minos, whose palacebuildings can be found at Knossos, about 7 kilometers outside of Heraklion. It is the largest of the remaining Minoan palaces on the island.

Vegetation

Crete has a rich vegetation. You can find more than 2000 different plantspecies on the island, most of it native. And as the English coast is well-known for its limestone. On the map below you can see the differences between the vegetation areas and the more bare parts on the island.

traffic interchange Heraklion

Heraklion or Iraklion is the capital of Crete. It is situated at the mediterranean coast in the north. Heraklion, also called Candia, is the seat of the Roman Catholic bishop of Crete. During the occupation by the Turks they called Heraklion Rab del Khandak. The archeological site of Knossos near Heraklion can easily be visited by bus or by car, if you have one. In the museum in Knossos you can find many sculptures of bulls, which has to do with the myth of the Minotaur and its culture of worshipping in the Minoan period. Heraklion is an important traffic interchange. Nikos Kazantzakis International Airport is situated in the southeast, about 5 kilometers from the centre of the city. During the summer many charterflights land at Heraklion. And you will not be the only one who takes a ferrie from the harbour of the city to the Cyclades, Piraeus, Thessaloniki, Rhodes, Egypt and Israel. Busses can drive you from the Hania Port to the south of Crete. Rethimnon en Chania in the west and Malia, Chersonissos and Agios Nikolaos in the east can also be travelled by bus. And despite Heraklion's ancient culture the city has its own website, heraklion-city.gr If you don't read Greek, don't worry: the site offers an English translation (see homepage).

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Rethimnon

Rethimnon The city of Rethimnon (Rethymnon or Rethymno), west of Heraklion, has about 50.000 inhabitants. The english translation of the website shows a beautiful picture of the harbour, the fortification and the lighthouse of the city. Rethimnon became important when the Venetian conquerors (1204) used the city as a commercial intermediate station between Heraklion and Chania. Today's Rethimnon is almost entirely built by the Venetians.

What you defenitely have to visit in Rethimnon is the fortification, the Venetian castle named Fortezza, the Neratze Mosque, the Great Gate (Megali Porta) and the Piazza Rimondi. With its crowded and colourfull small streets, the harbour and the cafés, the old center of Rethimnon is a nice place to stay.

Chania

The earlier city of Kydonia is now called Chania, west of Heraklion and Rethimnon. Or, to say it otherwise: where the highway E75 meets the E65. In the year 828 AC Kydonia was conquered by the Arabs, destroyed and later on rebuilt as the city of al Hannim. It did n't last, as more often: around the year 961 the Byzantium Empire conquered the city, which meant that the Turks became the new rulers. At the end of the 13th century the Venetians came by. They called the city Canea and fortified the walls to protect their commercial activities. This was necessary because of the raids of pirates (as the famous Barbarossa) that took place very frequently in those days. At the beginning of the 17th century the city was conquered or frankly reconquered by the Osmans,who were Turkish too. Their influence was felt till the end of the 19th century. At that time the world was already anticipating on World War II. For a short time Crete was independent. In 1913 Crete became part of Greece. The war did n't pass Chania without consequences. Maybe one of them was a military airport, that nowadays is used also for touristflights. For lovers of military stuff this airport is the place to be. Loneliness is an unknown word in this area because of the many hotels, restaurants and bars in the neighbourhood. Shopping around in the kashba is also a nice pastime. Don't forget to bring down the prices!

Agios Nikolaos

When you travel east from Heraklion, by car over the E75, you are entering the city of Agios Nikolaos at the Mediterranean coast. The city counts 20 to 30.000 inhabitants. The Greek name Agios Nikolaos means Holy Nicolas, the patron Saint of sailors.

Agios Nikolaos can also be reached from Heraklion by bus. It takes however a few hours to get there. But since you are on holiday, time should not be the problem. The Archeological Museum in Agios Nikolaos has several interesting Minoan discoveries. Agios Nikolaos also has a small beach which is nice to visit after the cultural sites. Lake Voulismeni is a beautiful small lagoon in the harbour area. It has pleasant terrasses where you can have a drink while looking at the water activities.

Sitia

The harbour city of Sitia lies 70 kilometers more eastly from Agios Nikolaos. You can take the ferry from Piraeus via Heraklion to the islands of the Dodekanesos. Sitia has an international airport since 2005. With a population of only 20.000 inhabitants Sitia needs tourists to survive. The Venetians visited Sitia as they did elsewhere and also the pirates came by. Many earthquakes made Sitia a deserted city between the 17th and 19th century. Tourists, the harbour and the most important olive culture are the means of existence in the region.

Mount Ida

Mount Ida lies in the Idi Range, in the region of Rethimnon and 35 kilometers from Knossos. With its 2456 meters mount Ida is the highest mountain on Crete. In ancient times Knossos was the place where precious metals as gold, copper and iron were found. Everywhere on Crete you can find old treasury made of this metals. In the old days the mountains on Crete had another function: they were the residence of the gods. About 1500 - 700 BC you can find in Homerus and other old texts many examples of earthquakes, falling rocks and vulcanos in the region, that maybe are the cause of the many stories about the heroic gods. In Europe we all know the stories about the Germans and the Celts. In the Crete region the people worshipped the gods Zeus and Aphrodite. And in the Greek mythology there is the story of Europa, the beautiful daughter of the Fenician royalties Agenor and Telephassa, who lived in the region of Lebanon. Zeus fell in love with Europa. He changed himself in a white bull, seduced her and brought her with him to Crete. Europa had three sons: the later king Minos, king Rhadamanthus and prince Sarpedon. Zeus left her and later on Europa married the king of Crete, who adopted her three sons. Crete was also the residence of Aphrodite, the godess of love, sexuality and fertility. Probably she moved from Fenicieum tot the island of Crete.

By the way: holiday at Crete , part of Greece, Country in Europe » you can pay with euro's in Crete... or dollar if you wish.

Climate at Crete

Crete has a very nice climate. Surrounded by sea it means there is always wind on the island. During the summer, the Meltemi, a strong wind from the North can suddenly rise up, in winter sometimes the 'warm' Notia blows. Because of the winds the heat in Crete is not so bad as it can be on the Greek mainland, but in summer temperatures can rise to a forty degrees or more. In winter you can ski in the mountains, for instance in the region of Anogia. West and north Crete are more rainy than east and south.

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Roadmap Crete - Greece

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