traveldk.com

Catering mainly for visitors, the menu encompasses Greek and international dishes, a long list of grilled seafood and a reasonable wine list.

From Kato Zakros, retrace your tracks as far as Ano Zakros, then drive for 18 km (11 miles) through the villages of Ziros and Chandras to the ancient site at Praisos (see Praisos).

This scenic site – with only the remnants of a temple, house foundations and a city wall to be seen – was the last enclave of the Eteocretan (“true Cretan”) descendants of the Minoans. It survived until the 2nd century BC, when it was sacked by Dorians.

Based on clay statuettes and inscriptions found here, archaeologists believe it was a post-Minoan Eteocretan city (see Praisos).

The Kourtaliotis river meets the sea at Preveli, where the green river, blue sea, date palms and “Greek bamboo” (calamus reeds) create a tropical oasis feel.

Like the Diktian Cave, this cave near Arkalochori is also claimed as birthplace of Zeus.

Many mountain-top chapels for this prophet may originally have been for the sun-god Helios.

Walk through the portal and along Evans, named after the excavator of ancient Knosos, to Plateia Kornarou, named after the writer of the Cretan epic poem the Erotokritos . In the middle of this square stands a pretty, six-sided stone building, a café set within a pumphouse built by the Turks. Stop here, if you like, for a coffee in the shade of plane trees. Beside the café is the Venetian Bembo Fountain – note the broken, decapitated marble torso of a Roman statue built into its stonework.

Old-fashioned wooden chairs, marble-topped tables and a vinecovered verandah are part of the appeal. Its interior – a vaulted bar with a wooden floor, set in an old stone building – is attractive too.

The Greek version of the urban blues, brought to Greece by refugees from Asia Minor in the 1920s, is popular with young Cretans.