1. Description of Crete
2. Climate (weather view)
3. Best time to visit
4. Places to see
5. Water Sports & Water Parks
6. Walking
7. Food and Drink
8. Pirate Ship
9. Painting Holidays

10. Dolphin Cruises
11. Scuba Diving
12. Organised Excursions
13. Nudism
14. Archaeological Sites
15. The Greek Language
16. A brief history of Crete
17. Greek Authors
18. Golf

• Property Purchase
• Accommodation
• Greece (Crete) in the EU
  welfare & immigration
   
• West Crete
• Central Crete
• East Crete

The East is by far the driest part of the island although olive trees are planted there as well. It possesses a mountain range, Thripti, which only rises to 1500m, but is very wild.

The area round the town of Agios Nikolaos and the Mirambello bay has become a focal point for tourism.

Central Crete. A large proportion of visitors to Crete arrive in Heraklion, the capital of Central Crete. This large town is mainly an important economic focal point in Crete. The hilly hinterland is well known for its abundance of vineyards.

The region is very important archaeologically, not only because of the Minoan palace of Knossos. The whole region is dominated by the Ida mountains and Dikti in the eastern part. In the South the plain of Messara, one of the most fertile areas of Crete, has become an important centre of agricultural production. Outstanding Minoan frescoes can be viewed in the Iraklion Archaeological Museum Plateia Elevtherias (open Mon 12:30-23:00, Tue/Sunday 08:00-19:00).

Central Crete and essentially the North coast is by far the main tourism centre of Crete with more than half of all the accommodation of the whole island located there.

West Crete is the greenest and most mountainous area of Crete. The majestic White Mountains or Lefka Ori dominate the landscape and rise to almost 2500m. They drop abruptly into the Libyan sea in the South and are cut by a number of deep gorges, the most famous one being the Samaria Gorge.

To the North, hilly areas and some coastal plains provide a fertile ground for agriculture, mainly olive trees and citrus fruit. The North coast has many nice beaches and a number of tourist developments.

Places to see

• The Imbros Gorge (ending near Hora Sfakion) can get a little crowded in the spring, before the Samaria gorge opens to the public when it is used as an alternative organised tour. The path is easy to follow. If you wish to do this walk cheaply then drive to the bottom park your car at one of the many tavernas and hitch-hike to the top. The scenery is spectacular here especially on the steep bendy drive towards Hora Sfakion
   
• The gorge of Aradena (not far from Loutro) is far less frequented and the walk is more difficult, with some steep passages. The is a very difficult path to find without a good map.
   
• The gorge of Ilingas (near Hora Sfakion) is, surprisingly, totally unknown although it is not very difficult to walk. From its northern end it is possible to get to interesting abandoned villages high above Anopolis.
   
• Pachnes (2453 m), at the centre of the White Mountains can be reached from several directions. A place of silence in a moon landscape with great views of the whole of West Crete from the summit.
   
• Agia Roumeli to Agios Ioannis This walk starts along the coast, passing by the almost deserted beach of Agios Pavlos, then climbs up through a pine forest on an ancient path to the village of Agios Ioannis. Splendid views and a chance to see bearded vultures if you are lucky
   
• Agia Roumeli to Loutro starts on the same path, but continues along the coast towards Loutro
   
• Loutro to Hora Sfakion (or vice versa). Not a very long walk along the coast. Its main interest is the beautiful "Sweet water beach". This is a very gook walk because as it follows the coastal foot path there aren't too many inclines or declines. You get lovely views of the quaint fishing village of Loutro as you walk along this route.

If you would like to spend your holiday with a specialist company who organises guided walks and accommodation on Crete, then you will do no than getting in touch with footscapes.

Scuba Diving

Kalypso Dive Center
Sof. Venizelou 42 (New Beach Road)
Rethymno, Crete 74100
Phone: (30)  8310 - 20990

The facilities of the "Kalypso" Diving Center are situated in the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea, on the wild south coast of Crete near Plakias in the area of the lost kingdom of the legendary Queen Kalypso. The Kalypso Rock's Palace offers diving excursions for certified divers or small safe groups with individual care provided for those diving for their first time.

http://www.kalypsodivingcenter.com

1986 Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae |
1987 Archaeological Site of Delphi |
1987 Acropolis, Athens |
1988 Mount Athos |
1988 Meteora |
1988 Paleochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessalonika |
1988 Archaeological Site of Epidaurus |
1988 Medieval City of Rhodes |
1989 Archaeological Site of Olympia |
1989 Mystras |
1990 Delos |
1990 Monasteries of Daphni, Hossios Luckas and Nea Moni of Chios |
1992 Pythagoreion and Heraion of Samos |
1996 Archaeological Site of Vergina |
1999 Archaeological Sites of Mycenae and Tiryns
1999 Historic Centre (Chorá) with the Monastery of Saint John "the Theologian" and the Cave of the Apocalypse on the Island of Pátmos

The Greek Language

Greek is one of the oldest written languages on the earth, one of the first Indo-European languages ever written, and the language with the longest history of alphabetic graphology.

The history of the Greek Language begins, as far as the surviving texts are concerned, with the Mycenaean civilization at least as early as the thirteenth century BC. The earliest texts are written in a script called "Linear A" however there there is insufficient text surviving to decipher it. The next writing to be discovered is called "Linear B" and this being very fragmented has only just been deciphered and turned out to no more exciting than laundry lists. Scholars therefore do not hold much hope for content of the writings of "Liner A".  It is thought that because of the need to record the spoken word of the poet Homer that the basis of the modern day Greek language was born. After the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization (around 1200 BC) writing disappeared from Greece. In the late ninth to early eighth century BC a script based on the Phoenician syllabary was introduced, with unneeded consonant symbols being reused to represent the Greek vowels. The oldest surviving alphabetic inscriptions are written using this new system and date from the late eighth century BC.

Greek history and Myths
Greek history can be traced back over 40,000 years . No one knows when myths were first invented. Many come before the time of writing and were passed on from word of mouth. It is probably the spoken tradition the helped them survive upheavals when writing was destroyed and forgotten.

The Changing Myths (Greek)
Conquerors and peaceful settlers brought their own beliefs into Greece where they were adopted or combined with myths and god that already existed, so they changed and developed over the centuries. They probably chances less as they were written down, but different versions of many myths still survive.

At least two areas of the prefecture of Rethymno are directly connected to mythology:
The Idaison Andron Cave in the mountain range of Psiloritis and the Talarian Mountains (today called Kouloukounas in the Milopotamos Area: Rhea (the Greek goddess of the earth, mountains and forests) sought refuge from her furious husband (who was also her brother) Kronos who had swallowed his previous children. When her new son Zeus was born legendary demons of Crete danced wildly hitting their shields to hid the noise, then when Zeus was older, he tricked Kronos into regurgitating his brothers and sisters.
The second myth is that the Talean Mountains are connected with the legendary giant Talos. Talos protected Crete against its enemies, hindering them when they got close. It took the the beauty of Medea's arriving on the Argous to make him weak and by removing a nail from his foot, spilled his blood and made him fall into the Cretan soil dead.

20,000 to 8,300 BC (Palaeolithic)
Inhabiting caves from time to time the people of this period where probably seasonal hunter-gatherers. No certain gathering of plant foods is attested before ca. 11,000 BC First appearing at this time are lentils, vetch, pistachios, and almonds. Neither wild oats nor wild barley become at all common until ca. 7000 BC. Small end-scrapers for removing the flesh from hides are common. As far as archaeologists can tell there the inhabitants at that time did not produce any pottery or architecture.

8,300 - 6,000 BC (Mesolithic)

6,000-3,000 BC (Neolithic)

3,000-ca. 2,100 BC Early Bronze Age

2,100-ca. 1,600 BC Middle Bronze Age

1,600-ca. 1,200 BC Late Bronze Age

pre 6,000 BC – Hunter-gatherers
The area now know as Greece was inhabited at this time by wandering tribes, hunting and living solely off of the land. No religious artefacts have been found and very little in known of the peoples of this time.

6,000 BC to 2,200 BC – Farmers

When farming skills were developed, people started to settle in small communities and leaned how to make pots, weave and work metals. Clues to the religion of this early civilisation are found in fine object such as those made of marble, fertility symbols etc.

Greek society advanced and developed until about 2200 BC when invaders from the North disrupted the process. Fortunately the island of Crete escaped and a sophisticated civilization grew up, called Minoan after its kings, Minos. Many works of art survive, illustrating some aspects of religious life. Bulls often feature in Cretan myths and some of these were latter adopted by the mainlanders into Mycenaean mythology.

1600 BC to 12000 BC – The Mycenaean
Gradually the mainland recovered and started to develop again. It borrowed many ideas from Minos and finally became more powerful that Crete. The civilization is called Mycenaean after its major city called Mycenae. The historical event that inspired the legends about Jason and the Argonauts took place during this period. The truth was exaggerated and embroidered to form the legends, but there is archaeological evidence for some of these event.

1200 to 700 BC – The Greek dark ages
Between 1200 and 1050 BC the Mycenaean culture collapses due to civil wars and more invasions from the North. The myths survived, passed on orally through the generations.

The poet Homer lived at the end of the dark Ages. He is said to have composed two great works about the ancient legends, called the Ilaid and the Odyssey. They were not written down until much later, but the stories were already 500 years old when Homer was alive.

Homer probably spoke his poems while playing the lyre. Greek schoolboys in the later periods had to learn parts of its poetry by heart and every scholar could quote him.

700 to 500 BC – The Archaic period
Between 700 and 500 BC Greece one again became rich in art, literature and commerce. Trade was established with many Mediterranean counties and coins were introduced as money. They experimented with government and society organisations but there religion was still based on the ancient myths and legends, as can be seen by their art.

500 to 336 BC – The Classic Period
This is probably the best-known period of Ancient Greek history. We know a lot about how the people lived at this time and our image of ancient Greeks is most influenced by Classical art and literature. People lived in city-states, and much seafaring and trading went on. Optimally harmony was believed to be a sign of divinity. Therefore training the body and the spirit to pursuit harmony was a very important part in the education of the young Greek. In the Greek grammar schools the young ones were trained athletically. In the mean time scholar were present to teach them grammar, astrology, philosophy and other subjects. The people strove for spiritual as well as physical perfection.

Many plays based on the myths were written during this Classic Period, and it is these versions that come to us today.

336 to 31 BC – The Hellenistic Period
This era is called the Hellenistic Period, after Hellen, the legendary ancestor of the Greeks, the son of Deucalion and the grandson of Prometheus.
The empire of Alexandra the Great came within this period, the Greek culture spread across the near and middle east after his death in 323 BC

The decline of Greece.
In the last century before the birth of Christ, the Roman Empire expanded and become more powerful then Greece although the Romans were greatly influenced by the Greeks. They had their own gods but did not have such complexed mythology. Gradually they mixed the Greek mythologies with their own until both mythologies where almost the same. The Romans names for their gods and heroes adopted from Greece.

Greek authors
Homer about 750-700 BC The Iliad, The Odyssey.
Hesiod (about 700 BC) Theogony
Bacchylides (5th Century BC) Poems.
Pindar (518 – 438 BC) Poems
Aeschylus (525-426 BC), Plays including the Oresteia trilogy, Prometheus Bound.
Sophocles (497-405 BC), Plays including Antigone, Kning Oedipus, Electra, Ajax.
Euripides (485-406 BC), Plays including, The Bacchae, Medea, Hippolytus.

What ever you choose to do in Crete, enjoy your holiday.