The Rough Guide to Crete 7 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

501 Pages·2007·21.13 MB·English

by  Rough Guides, John Fisher, Geoff Garvey

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The Rough Guide to
Crete
written and researched by
John Fisher and Geoff Garvey
NEW YORK • LONDON • DELHI
www.roughguides.com
Contents
Colour section 1–24 Contexts 411–468
Introduction ............................... 4 History ................................... 413
Where to go ............................... 8 The discovery of Bronze Age
When to go .............................. 12 Crete ................................... 433
Things not to miss ................... 13 Crete in Myth ......................... 441
Wildlife ................................... 445
Basics 25–72 Books .................................... 456
Cretan music ......................... 464
Getting there............................ 27
Information and Crete on Language 469–480
the Web ................................ 39
Getting around ........................ 41
Accommodation ...................... 45 Travel store 481–489
Eating and drinking ................. 48
The media ............................... 53
Festivals and cultural events.... 54 Small print & Index 490–504
Travelling with children............. 57
Travel essentials ...................... 58
Ancient Crete colour
Guide 73–410 section following p.168
1 Iráklion ................................ 75
2 Lasíthi ............................... 163 A mountainous island
3 Réthimnon ........................ 233 colour section following
4 Haniá ................................ 293 p.360
3
왗왗 Hilltop chapel, Iráklion province 왗 Sunbathing, Falásarna beach
| CONTENTS |
Introduction to
Crete
Crete is a great deal more than just another Greek island.
Much of the time, especially in the cities or along the
developed north coast, it doesn’t feel like an island at all,
but a substantial land in its own right. Which of course
it is – a mountainous, wealthy and at times surprisingly
cosmopolitan one with a tremendous and unique history.
There are two big cities, Iráklion and Haniá, a host of
sizeable, historic towns, and an island culture which is
uniquely Cretan: the Turks were in occupation little over a
hundred years ago, and the Greek flag was raised for the
first time only in 1913.
4
| INTRODUCTION | WHERE TO GO | WHEN TO GO
Long before, Crete was distinguished as the
home of Europe’s earliest civilization. It was
only at the beginning of the twentieth cen-
tury that the legends of King Minos, and of
a Cretan society that ruled the Greek world
in prehistory, were confirmed by excavations
at Knossós and Festós. Yet the Minoans had
a remarkably advanced and cultured society,
at the centre of a substantial maritime trad-
ing empire, as early as 2000 BC. The artworks produced on Crete at this time
are unsurpassed anywhere in the ancient world, and it seems clear, wandering
through the Minoan palaces and towns, that life on Crete in those days was
good. The apparently peaceful Minoan culture survived a number of major
disasters, following each of which the palaces were rebuilt on an even grander
scale. It is only after a third catastrophe that significant numbers of weapons
start to appear in the ruins, probably because Mycenean Greeks had taken
control of the island. Nevertheless, for nearly five hundred years, by far the
longest period of peace the island has seen, Crete was home to a civilization
well ahead of its time.
5
| INTRODUCTION | WHERE TO GO | WHEN TO GO
The Minoans are believed to have come originally from Anatolia, and the
island’s position as meeting point – and strategic fulcrum – between east and
west has played a crucial role in its subsequent history. Control passed from
Greeks to Romans to Saracens, through the Byzantine Empire to Venice, and
finally to Turkey for two hundred years. During World War II Crete was
occupied by the Germans and gained the dubious distinction of being the first
place to be successfully invaded by parachute. Each one of these diverse rul-
ers has left some mark, and more importantly they have marked the islanders
and forged for the land
a personality toughened
Crete’s mystery is extremely deep.
by endless struggles for
Whoever sets foot on this island senses a
independence.
mysterious force branching warmly and
Today, with a flourish-
beneficiently through his veins, senses
ing agricultural economy,
his soul begin to grow.
Crete is one of the few
Níkos Kazantzakís, Report to Greco
Greek islands that could
support itself without
tourists. Nevertheless, tourism is heavily promoted and is rapidly taking over
parts of the island altogether. Along the populous north coast, Crete can be
as sophisticated as you want it, and the northeast, in particular, can be depress-
ingly overdeveloped. In the less known coastal reaches of the south it’s still
possible to find yourself alone, but even here places which have not yet been
6 reached are getting harder and harder to find. By contrast, the high mountains
of the interior are barely touched, and one of the best things to do on Crete is
| INTRODUCTION | WHERE TO GO | WHEN TO GO
왖 Buying sponges, Iráklion harbour
to hire a vehicle and head for remoter
Fact file
villages, often only a few kilometres
of some heavily beaten track.
• Some 260km long and
The mountains, which dominate ranging between 15km and
the view as you approach and make 60km in breadth, Crete is
the largest of the Greek
all but the shortest journey inland
islands and the fifth largest
an expedition, are perhaps the most
in the Mediterranean, with
rewarding aspect of Crete. In the west,
a land area of 8300 square
the White Mountains are snowcapped kilometres and a population of
right into June, Psilorítis (Mount Ida) 550,000.
in the centre is higher still, and in • Crete is one of Greece’s
the east the heights continue through ten administrative regions
returning sixteen members to
the Dhíkti and Sitía ranges to form
the Greek national parliament.
a continuous chain from one end of
The island is made up of
the island to the other. They make a four provinces or nomes,
relatively small place feel much larger: with its capital at the north
there are still many places where the coast seaport of Iráklion
(pop. 130,000). The island’s
roads cannot reach.
other three provincial capitals
– Haniá (pop. 60,000),
Réthimnon (pop. 20,000) and
Áyios Nikólaos (pop. 7000)
– are the focus for local
government and cultural
activities.
• Agriculture and tourism
are the mainstays of the
Cretan economy. Half the
island’s territory is devoted to
agriculture, with olives, grapes
and citrus fruit the main crops,
whilst over two million visitors
take holidays here each year.
• Crete has attracted invaders
throughout its history. Europe’s
first civilization, the Minoans,
were the earliest known
colonizers, but Myceneans,
Dorian Greeks, Romans,
Arabs, Byzantines, Venetians,
Turks and the Germans in
World War II all conquered the
island in their turn.
• Crete’s dominant religion is
the Greek Orthodox creed. 7
| INTRODUCTION | WHERE TO GO | WHEN TO GO
왔 Orthodox priests
Where to go
very part of Crete has its loyal devotees and it’s hard to pick out high-
lights. On the whole, if you want to get away from it all you should
head for the ends of the island – west, towards Haniá and the smaller,
E less well-connected places along the south and west coasts, or east to
Sitía. Wherever you’re staying though, you don’t have to go far inland to
escape the crowds.
Whatever you do, your first objective will probably be to leave behind the
sprawling city of Iráklion (Heraklion) – having paid the obligatory, and
rewarding, visits to the archeological museum and nearby Knossós. The
Minoan sites are of course one of the major attractions of Crete: as well as
Knossós itself there are many other grand remains scattered around the centre
of the island – Festós and Ayía Triádha in the south (with Roman Górtys
to provide contrast) and Mália on the north coast. Almost wherever you go
though, you’ll find some kind of reminder of this history – the Minoan town
of Gourniá and the Dorian Greek sites of Drirós and Lató near the tourist
enticements of Áyios Nikólaos, the palace of Zákros over in the far east or
Roman Áptera and a host of lesser sites scattered around the west.
For many people, unexpected highlights also turn out to be Crete’s Vene-
tian forts and defensive walls and bastions – dominant at Réthimnon,
Iráklion and Haniá, magnificent at Frangokástello, and found in various
stages of ruin around most of the island. Byzantine churches and remote
8
왖 Church of the Panayía Loubiniés, Fódhele
| INTRODUCTION | WHERE TO GO | WHEN TO GO