Wanderlust Travel Magazine (UK)
Top 10 Highlights
Explore the legend-laden Greek island of Crete
Minoans. Greeks. Romans. Byzantines. Saracens. Venetians. Ottomans. Crete has more than 4,000 years of history and folklore, scattered liberally through the island. This rich heritage is set against spectacular mountain scenery and Mediterranean coastal charm…
1 Ancient Knossos
Knossos is steeped in mystery. In legend it was the seat of King Minos, beneath whose palace the bull-headed Minotaur hunted its victims in the labyrinth built by Daedalus. In reality it was the hub of a Bronze Age empire that held sway over the Aegean more than 4,000 years ago. An impressive relic of the ancient Mediterranean world, the Minoan palace was excavated and imaginatively reconstructed in the early 1900s.
2 Irakleio (Heraklion)
A good place to see a slice of everyday Greek life, Crete’s capital is an eclectic mix of medieval buildings, bustling markets and modern streets. The huge fortress still guards the harbour where the galleys of the Serene Republic of Venice once moored. The centuries-old Agios Titos church and ornate Morosini Fountain are other reminders of Irakleio’s Venetian era, but the busy open-air markets and Heraklion Archaeological Museum are also fine places to explore before finding a café table on one of the central squares to indulge in a spot of people watching.
3 Chania
Chania is Crete’s second-largest city, with colourful Venetian buildings set around a sheltered, fortificationguarded harbour. To the south are the tireless peaks of the Lefka Ori (‘White Mountains’), sometimes snow-covered until June. Good beaches lie to the west and on the Akrotiri peninsula to the north. As well as Venetian ramparts and churches, a handful of old Islamic buildings such as the Yali Tzami mosque serve as reminders of the 250-year Ottoman rule. This pretty harbour city, which has plenty of open-air restaurants and shops, makes for a great base for exploring Crete’s wild west.
4 Phaistos
One of the main Minoan sites in Crete, Phaistos is a maze of excavated courtyards and stairways on a hillside 5
7 overlooking the Messara Plain and the Libyan Sea. Most of the ruins visible today are remnants of a later palace (‘the Second Palace’) built around 1600 BC, although you can find sections of the original Minoan structures that date back more than 3,500 years.
5 Rethymno
Crete’s third-largest city has had a multi-layered history. The huge medieval fortress, Ottoman- and Venetian-era architecture and busy markets are part of its charm, along with a beach esplanade, built on a wide, shallow bay. The medieval quarter is crammed with tall windows and wrought-iron balconies, while several well-preserved structures remain from the Ottomans – including the Nerantzes Mosque. Along with the palm trees planted along its seafront, they give the town an exotic atmosphere.
6 Gortys
Resting in the middle of the Messara Plain, the toppled Roman columns, ruins of a Byzantine basilica and post-minoan fortifications all hint at Gortys’ chequered past. The ruins here – including the Basilica of Agios Titos, the Temple of Pythian Apollo and a Roman Code of Laws built into the wall of an odeion (a key find) – may date from later Romanand Christian-eras than some of Crete’s Minoan palaces, but are just as impressive and often less crowded.
7 Samaria Gorge
This canyon is one of the most striking areas of natural beauty in Greece. The ‘White Mountains’ of the Sfakia region dominate south-west Crete. This rugged massif, most of which can be explored only on foot, is traversed by the lovely Samaria Gorge, which cuts through from the Omalos Plateau to the Libyan Sea. Peaks soar on both sides of the gorge, flanked by pine woods, wildflower meadows and medieval buildings such as the Osia Maria church. Beginning 1,250m above sea level, it emerges on the coast, close to the village of ‘New’ Agia Roumeli, after passing the original Venetian-era village and through the narrow Sideresportes (or ‘Iron Gates’).
8 The Amari Valley & Mount Idi
Overlooked by Mount Idi, the remote Amari Valley is dotted with olive groves, vineyards and fresco-laden churches, such as the 14th century Agios Ioannis Theologos and the 11th century Thronos. Agios Efstathios meanwhile, just outside Hromonastiri village; boasts one of the island’s oldest frescoes. The old-fashioned villages and legendladen caves can be explored with a car or on a guided coach tour.
9 Gournia
Crete’s best-preserved Minoan town has a labyrinth of tiny houses and narrow lanes surrounding a small palace overlooking the Gulf of Mirabello – yet it receives few visitors. It was inhabited from around 3000 BC, although the surviving buildings date from the later Second Palace period. Like other Minoan settlements, it was destroyed by an earthquake and fire around 1450 BC. The honeycomb of ruins – workshops, courtyards, storerooms – stands only waist-high.
10 Moni Arkadiou
Arkadi Monastery is Crete’s best-loved Greek Orthodox monastery, a place of tranquillity with a tragic past, set high above the north coast on a fertile plain at the base of Mount Idi. During the Ottoman occupation, Orthodox priests not only kept the Greek language and traditions alive, but also led freedom fighters into combat during the 18th- and 19th-century rebellions; in 1866, the monastery’s gunpowder store was the site of one siege’s last stand that saw 943 Cretans martyr themselves rather than surrender.