DK Travel : Crete : History & Culture

Page
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

Mt Idi

At 2,456 m (8,055 ft), Mt Idi, which is also known as Mt Ida and Mt Psiloritis, is Crete’s highest mountain. Only fit, experienced and well-equipped mountain walkers should try the eighthour hike to its summit and back. However, it is possible to drive as far as the Nida Plateau, 1,400 m (4,600 ft) above sea level, from which there are spectacular views.
Mycenaeans

Myceanean Greeks from the mainland settled in Crete after 1450 BC.
Nicephoros Phokas

The Byzantine general Nicephoros Phokas reconquered Crete from the Saracens in 961. Laying siege to their capital at Khandak (Irakleio), he demoralized the garrison by firing the heads of their captured comrades over the walls of the city.
Nikos Kazantzakis

Born in Irakleio, Kazantzakis (1883–1957) is best known for his novel Alexis Zorbas , translated into English and filmed as Zorba the Greek . He was excommunicated by the Orthodox Church for his humanist views, and his selfpenned epitaph reads: “I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free.”
Nymphs of Dragolaki

The cave known as the Dragolaki or “Dragon’s Lair”, just outside the Sfakia mountain village of Agios Ioannis, is said to be haunted by Nereids, waternymphs who were daughters of the god Nereus.
Occupation and Liberation in World War II

German forces drive the Allies out of Crete in May 1941, but Cretan guerrillas continue to resist. Most German troops flee Greece in autumn 1944 as Allied troops land, but the garrison at Chania holds out until the end of the war in May 1945.
Officers & Gentlemen by Evelyn Waugh

A pithy account of the British in Crete in World War II.
Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Turks invaded Crete in strength in 1645 and held the island until the end of the 19th century.
Paintings by Lefteris Kanakakis

Rethymno’s Contemporary Arts Centre houses a variety of Kanakakis’s work.
Paleochora

Kastel Selinou, as Paleochora was first known, was built in 1279 to guard the southwest against pirates. The great Turkish corsair Barbarossa destroyed it in 1539. The Turks saw no need to rebuild it, and it has remained an elegant ruin ever since.