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Greek Island 8 ©Lonely¨Planet¨Publications¨Pty¨Ltd Crete Why Go? Central Crete ............. 252 Crete (Κρήτη) is in many respects the culmination of the Iraklio ......................... 252 Greek experience. Nature here has been prolific, creating a dramatic quilt of big-shouldered mountains, stunning Knossos .....................260 beaches and undulating hillsides blanketed in olive groves, Rethymno .................266 vineyards and wildflowers. There are deep chiselled gorges, Moni Arkadiou ..........269 including one of Europe’s longest, and crystal-clear lagoons Plakias ...................... 270 and palm-tree-lined beaches that conjure up the Caribbean. Northwest Crete ........ 273 Crete’s natural beauty is equalled only by the richness of a history that spans millennia. The Palace of Knossos is Hania ......................... 273 but one of many vestiges of the mysterious Minoan civilisa- Southwest Coast .......280 tion. Venetian fortresses, Turkish mosques and Byzantine Elafonisi ....................286 churches bring history alive all over the island, but nowhere Eastern Crete ............ 287 more so than in charismatic Hania and Rethymno. Ultimately, though, it’s humans – not stones – that cre- Agios Nikolaos .......... 287 ate the most vivid memories. Crete’s hospitable and spirited people uphold their unique culture and customs, and tradi- tions remain a dynamic part of the island’s soul. Best Places to Eat ¨¨Chrisofyllis (p289) ¨¨Omikron (p284) When to Go ¨¨Portes (p277) Crete (Iraklio) °C/°F Temp Rainfall inches/mm ¨¨Prima Plora (p268) 40/104 8/200 ¨¨Thalassino Ageri (p278) 30/86 6/150 20/68 4/100 Best Places to 10/50 2/50 Stay 0/32 0 ¨¨Casa Leone (p277) J F M A M J J A S O N D ¨¨Lato Boutique Hotel (p256) Apr A painter’s Jun Hit the Oct Warm seas, ¨ ¨Stavroula Palace (p279) palette of wild- beaches before blue skies and ¨¨Stella’s Traditional flowers blankets they get crowded thinning crowds Apartments (p295) the island as and rejoice in the as the grape locals prepare for bounty of local harvest gets ¨ ¨Hotel Veneto (p267) Easter. produce. under way. 249 History ganisation, Islamic culture and Muslim set- Although inhabited since neolithic times tlers. Cretan resistance was strongest in the (7000–3000 BC), Crete is most famous for mountain strongholds but all revolts were being the cradle of Europe’s first advanced put down brutally, and it was only with the civilisation, the Minoans. Traces of this en- Ottoman Empire’s disintegration in the late igmatic society were only uncovered in the 19th century that Europe’s great powers ex- early 20th century, when British archaeolo- pedited Crete’s sovereign aspirations. gist Sir Arthur Evans discovered the palace Thus in 1898, with Russian and French at Knossos and named the civilisation after consent, Crete became a British protec- its ruler, the mythical King Minos. torate. However, the banner under which Minoans migrated to Crete in the 3rd future Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios millennium BC. Their extraordinary artistic, Venizelos and other Cretan rebels were architectural and cultural achievements cul- fighting was Enosis i Thanatos (Unity or minated in the construction of huge palace Death) – unity with Greece, not mere inde- complexes at Knossos, Phaestos, Malia and pendence from Turkey. Yet it would take the Zakros, which were all levelled by an earth- Greek army’s successes in the Balkan Wars quake around 1700 BC. Undeterred, the (1912–13) to turn Crete’s de facto inclusion in Minoans built bigger and better ones over the country into reality, with the 1913 Treaty the ruins, while settling more widely across of Bucharest. Crete. Around 1450 BC, the palaces were Crete suffered tremendously during mysteriously destroyed again, possibly by a WWII, due to being coveted by Hitler for its strategic location. On 20 May 1941 a huge tsunami triggered by a volcanic eruption on Crete Santorini (Thira). Knossos, the only palace flock of German parachutists quickly over- saved, finally burned down around 1400 BC. whelmed the Cretan defenders. The Battle of Crete, as it would become known, raged Archaeological evidence shows that the G HIS for 10 days between German and Allied Minoans lingered on for a few centuries in E t t troops from Britain, Australia, New Zealand t small, isolated settlements before disappear- OR ing as mysteriously as they had come. They and Greece. For two days the battle hung ing in the balance until the Germans captured y were followed by the Mycenaeans and the There Dorians (around 1100 BC). By the 5th cen- the Maleme Airfield, near Hania. The Allied tury BC, Crete was divided into city-states forces fought a valiant rearguard action, enabling the British Navy to evacuate 18,000 but did not benefit from the cultural glories & A of mainland Greece; in fact, it was bypassed of the 32,000 Allied troops. The harsh Ger- by Persian invaders and the Macedonian man occupation lasted throughout WWII, wa with many mountain villages bombed or conqueror Alexander the Great. y By 67 BC Crete had become the Roman burnt down and their occupants executed province of Cyrenaica, with Gortyna its en masse. capital. After the Roman Empire’s division 88 in AD 395, Crete fell under the jurisdiction Getting¨There¨&¨Away of Greek-speaking Constantinople – the AIR emerging Byzantine Empire. Things went Most travellers arrive in Crete by air, usually with more or less fine until AD 824, when Arabs a change in Athens. Iraklio’s Nikos Kazantzakis appropriated the island. In AD 961, though, Airport is Crete’s busiest airport, although Ha- Byzantine general emperor Nikiforas Fokas nia (www.chania-airport.com) is convenient for (AD 912–69) won Crete back following a travellers heading to western Crete. Sitia only nine-month siege of Iraklio (then called El receives a handful of domestic flights. Khandak by the Arabs). Crete flourished un- Between May and October, European low-cost der Byzantine rule, but with the infamous carriers and charter airlines such as easyJet, Fourth Crusade of 1204 the maritime power Germanwings, AirBerlin, Fly thomas Cook and of Venice received Crete as part of its ‘pay- Jet2 operate direct flights to Crete, mostly from ment’ for supplying the Crusaders’ fleet. UK and German airports. Aegean Airlines oper- ates direct flights to Iraklio from several Euro- Much of Crete’s most impressive surviv- pean cities, including Brussels, Frankfurt, Paris ing architecture dates from the Venetian and St Petersburg; coming from another desti- period, which lasted until 1669 when Irak- nation requires connecting in Athens. travellers lio (then called Candia) became the last from North America need to connect via a Euro- domino to fall after a 21-year Ottoman siege. pean gateway city such as Paris, Amsterdam or Turkish rule brought new administrative or- Frankfurt and sometimes again in Athens..
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