Crete is Greece’s largest and most ancient island
Greece’s largest and most ancient island, Crete.
Crete is Greece’s largest island. It stands proudly as the last bastion of Greek culture before Europe gives way to Africa and the Middle East. The ancient island stands in the Mediterranean Sea away from the crowded towns of the mainland.
Crete has been inhabited since Neolithic times [7000-3000BC] and [...]
Safety on Crete’s Samaria Gorge
Tourists hiking through the Samaria Gorge, one of the island’s main tourist attractions, may be given hard hats to protect them from falling rocks.
Safety measures may be adopted according to an announcement by the Head of the Forestry Service, which is responsible for looking after the National Park in Southwest Crete, where the 18-kilometer-long gorge lies.
Forestry Service’s [...]
Crete in Spring is blooming marvellous
In April, the hills of Crete are carpeted in colour. Feel the Spring in your step.
One beautiful April morning, I turned my back on the sunny beach at Kato Zakros and walked nervously up into the shadows of the Valley of the Dead. Dragon lilies were pushing up into shafts of sunlight all over the [...]
When in Crete enjoy a Bougatsa at the Lion fountain
Our tour bus was approaching the ancient Minoan site of Knossos on Crete.
It was Sunday and traffic from Elounda was light, enabling us to make the trip in less than an hour and a half. We had spent three glorious days at an exquisite resort hotel, touring the Lassithi Plateau, relaxing, and though it was [...]
Your holidays in Greece
If you have an interest in beauty, art, architecture and the classic culture that gave us our civilization, then a visit to Greece is just the ticket.
And a vacation rental of a villa, a beach house or another type of private home will give you a chance to experience this wonderful country that is [...]
A taste of Cretan home cooking
It was a driving trek of heroic proportions up the road from Rethimno, the historic seaside fort city on the northern coast of Crete, to the tiny village of Potamos.
On a friend’s recommendation, I was heading to this practically unpopulated village about an hour’s drive into the mountains to eat. Kaliope Kehagiadaki, known as Popi, waited [...]
Crete for archaelogy
Dwarfing the other Greek islands, Crete has attractions in spades, but it’s as the home of the first literate civilisation in Europe that it deserves special mention here.
The Minoans flourished from about 2600BC until Santorini blew up 1,000 years or so later, wrecking Crete in a rain of ash, enormous earthquakes and tidal waves. A [...]
Exploring Crete > Ode on a Grecian turn
The owner of the local Shell station after he examined our rental car’s right front tire, which was hemorrhaging air as fast as it could be pumped in, he mumbled a few words in Greek and headed back to his garage. He quickly reappeared, hammer in hand.
Soon he was bashing at the rim: Bam bam [...]
Translating Greece
Unless you have studied the history first, don’t expect the ruins of ancient Greece to speak to you. As for the residents of modern Greece, prepare to make new friends.
I have climbed the marble path worn smooth by millennia of use, and now I stand at the Acropolis, the architectural monument that surpasses all [...]
Conquering the rocky slopes of Crete
This jagged land invites the adventurous to wrestle, paddle and climb in order to fully appreciate its historical grandeur. Luxurious resorts are not part of the beach scene. Battered rocks sprinkled with whitewashed villages are.
Samaria Gorge National Park.
Hotels are carved from mountainsides; they’re picturesque but with no elevators, no bellhops and lots of steps. [...]
