A bit late in the day, sorry, but my excuse is IT issues. Last month I went to Crete for some sunshine – and found it (unlike in Portugal). I stayed in Chania old town, on the western third of the island. Crete has been Greek only since 1913 and had a very colourful history before that:
| • 3000 – 2800 BC | Archaeological artifacts prove the existence of ancient Kydonia. |
| • 2800 – 1150 BC | Minoan civilisation. Ancient Kydonia is one of the most powerful cities in Crete. |
1st millennium AD Kydonia prevails until the 7th century AD
| • 823 – 961 AD | Occupation by the Arabs |
| • 961 – 1252 AD | Byzantine period |
| • 1252 – 1645 AD | Occupation by the Venetians |
| • 1645 – 1897 AD | Occupation by the Turks (I could, but won’t, add photos of Islamic architecture here) |
| • 1898 AD | Foundation of the Cretan State. Chania is the capital of Crete |
| • 1913 AD | Unification of Crete with Greece |
This eventful history continued with WW2 and the Battle of Crete, 1941 – scene of awful atrocities which are still clearly remembered as shown by this contemporary child’s artwork:
However, the real aim of this trip was to do some walking in the White Mountains – a truly wild and undeveloped area. It is easy to see how resistance fighters could be so successful over the centuries. There is a climbing hut in this area though I did not see it.
The big walking tick in Crete is the descent of the Samaria Gorge and, although it can be expensive to get to, it is worthwhile – my one tip would be to make sure you leave very early (just after dawn) and are in the first half dozen people because hundreds and hundreds of tourists do this walk every day and it must be atrocious in crowds.
And some more general scenery from the mountains:
And for me the highlight had to be the museum’s fragments of Linear A and Linear B script, the first time I had ever seen this other than in pictures. π π
Samaria Gorge looks fantastic. π
Great pictures of super scenery, and an island full of history. You couldn’t fail to enjoy it. BD
Wow, there must be some amazing climbing on the walls of the Samaria Gorge! Did you see any?
Just thinking the same – looks awesome. When are we going?!
You are right, and there is masses of variety: huge, steep, scary (sorry, “challenging”)walls; tufa pillars, caves; and scrambling up side gorges, except …. you are not allowed out of the main gorge to do any scrambling and I expect that you’d be arrested if you tried to climb the walls. On the other hand, it would be quite hard to access anyway – either a bus or taxi right up the mountain to the top, or a boat along the southern coast to reach the bottom. Oh yes, and the sea cliffs are pretty amazing too!
I’m sure my parents have a picture of the same excavation in Chania from when we visited when I was 7, complete with cat!
Very clever to get the cat to pose (perhaps it was stuffed, if it was there when Richard was 7)!?
Probably stuffed with the pizza it’s just stolen…
Actually(!), Crete was ALWAYS Greek.
Yours sincerely,
Kolokotronis.