We took a flight from Rhodes to Heraklion's Nikos Kazantzakis airport in Crete. We collected our rental car (dubbed 'the black arrow' - my huckleberry friend says it wouldn't 'pull the skin off a custard') and headed east to our first destination, Agios Nikolaos on the beautiful Bay of Mirabello. Crete is the largest of the Greek islands, and the fifth largest in the Mediterranean (Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, Corsica, Crete).
We first visited Crete in 2015 and although we spent three weeks driving around and exploring its beauty and history, we felt that we had merely touched the surface of this seductive island. During that trip we met a Cretan woman who said, 'you may visit the cities or towns of Crete, then you may drive around Crete, but it is only when you walk Crete that you really see it'. So this trip we've planned more driving (to new places and returning to some that we love), and plenty of walking (through villages and olive groves, along coastal paths and beaches, and through some of Crete's lovely gorges).
If you think of the shape of Crete as, roughly, a row of four rectangles, each rectangle is a distinct region each with its own capital and mountain range. From west to east the regions (or nomos) are;
Chania with the Lefka Ori, or White Mountains
Rethymnon with Mt Psiloritis
Heraklion and the Ida mountains
Lassithi with the Dikti and Thripti mountains.
Our plan is to spend a week in each nomos and we begin our month in Crete in the east, Lissithi.
Agios Nikolaos, capital of Lissithi, is a pretty tourist town set around a port lined with fishing boats, tour boats, tavernas, cafes and shops. Connected to the port by a small channel and bridge is Lake Voulismeni, lined with cafes and tavernas on one side and steep cliffs on the other.
We stayed four nights in Agios Nikolaos in an apartment overlooking the Bay. Each morning took the walking path around the bay and swam at Kitroplateia Beach. In the town we bought our first jar of Crete's famous mountain honey, traditional sheep's yoghurt, and a bottle of pure sunshine - Crete's finest olive oil. It's good to be back!
We took a day trip along the coast through Eloundra to the tiny fishing village of Plaka and for 8 euros a boat sailed us over to the island of Spinalonga.
Spinalonga is steeped in history, both fascinating and tragic. Originally it was part of the mainland and during Venetian rule the peninsula was excavated and a defensive fort built right around the remaining island. Ottoman Turks captured the island in the 1700s; it was a refuge for the local Ottoman population during the Cretan revolt in the 1800s, and right up to the early 19th century. For me though, the most interesting part of Spinalonga's history are the years 1903-1957 when it was a leper colony; Europe's last active leper colony.
Walking around Spinalonga's fortifications and the remaining Venetian and Ottoman buildings and streets is fascinating. We walked under 'the leper's entrance', a huge stone tunnel through the walls which is also called Dante's Gate, we climbed to the top, and could walk over and through the crumbling old houses and shops.
Spinalonga was a feared destination. Lepers often lived destitute and in hiding for fear of being exiled to the island. In reality, lepers arriving at the colony lived in the old Venetian houses or in newly-built rooms, they opened shops, grew food, got electricity before the mainland villages did, had a hosptial, and a form of local govenment. They were able to receive medical care and live without shame.
We walked along the top of the bastion walls, circumnavigating the island, and saw the leper's cemetery and the old church.
We took the boat back to Plaka and sat under the shade of an old carob tree. Although Plaka is tiny, there is a vibrant little collection of shops selling local ceramic. After lunch we took the coast road back to Agios Nikolaos. Such a beautiful day.
Fun Fact: Mikey Mouse's father, Walt Disney, holidayed at Agios Nikolaos in the 60s It was the setting of his 1964 movie The Moon Spinners with Hayley Mills. I remember watching that movie when I was 8 or 10 years old (Sunday night's Disneyland). It must have been shown as a two-part movie, and I only every saw one part. I LOVED it, and at the time I didn't understand that it's exotic setting was Crete and I never knew (or remembered) the name of the movie. Mystery solved half a century later!
We first visited Crete in 2015 and although we spent three weeks driving around and exploring its beauty and history, we felt that we had merely touched the surface of this seductive island. During that trip we met a Cretan woman who said, 'you may visit the cities or towns of Crete, then you may drive around Crete, but it is only when you walk Crete that you really see it'. So this trip we've planned more driving (to new places and returning to some that we love), and plenty of walking (through villages and olive groves, along coastal paths and beaches, and through some of Crete's lovely gorges).
If you think of the shape of Crete as, roughly, a row of four rectangles, each rectangle is a distinct region each with its own capital and mountain range. From west to east the regions (or nomos) are;
Chania with the Lefka Ori, or White Mountains
Rethymnon with Mt Psiloritis
Heraklion and the Ida mountains
Lassithi with the Dikti and Thripti mountains.
Our plan is to spend a week in each nomos and we begin our month in Crete in the east, Lissithi.
Agios Nikolaos, capital of Lissithi, is a pretty tourist town set around a port lined with fishing boats, tour boats, tavernas, cafes and shops. Connected to the port by a small channel and bridge is Lake Voulismeni, lined with cafes and tavernas on one side and steep cliffs on the other.
We stayed four nights in Agios Nikolaos in an apartment overlooking the Bay. Each morning took the walking path around the bay and swam at Kitroplateia Beach. In the town we bought our first jar of Crete's famous mountain honey, traditional sheep's yoghurt, and a bottle of pure sunshine - Crete's finest olive oil. It's good to be back!
We took a day trip along the coast through Eloundra to the tiny fishing village of Plaka and for 8 euros a boat sailed us over to the island of Spinalonga.
Spinalonga is steeped in history, both fascinating and tragic. Originally it was part of the mainland and during Venetian rule the peninsula was excavated and a defensive fort built right around the remaining island. Ottoman Turks captured the island in the 1700s; it was a refuge for the local Ottoman population during the Cretan revolt in the 1800s, and right up to the early 19th century. For me though, the most interesting part of Spinalonga's history are the years 1903-1957 when it was a leper colony; Europe's last active leper colony.
Walking around Spinalonga's fortifications and the remaining Venetian and Ottoman buildings and streets is fascinating. We walked under 'the leper's entrance', a huge stone tunnel through the walls which is also called Dante's Gate, we climbed to the top, and could walk over and through the crumbling old houses and shops.
Spinalonga was a feared destination. Lepers often lived destitute and in hiding for fear of being exiled to the island. In reality, lepers arriving at the colony lived in the old Venetian houses or in newly-built rooms, they opened shops, grew food, got electricity before the mainland villages did, had a hosptial, and a form of local govenment. They were able to receive medical care and live without shame.
We walked along the top of the bastion walls, circumnavigating the island, and saw the leper's cemetery and the old church.
We took the boat back to Plaka and sat under the shade of an old carob tree. Although Plaka is tiny, there is a vibrant little collection of shops selling local ceramic. After lunch we took the coast road back to Agios Nikolaos. Such a beautiful day.
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| Pretty Agios Nikolaos |
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| The fishermen's church on the shore of lovely Lake Voulismeni is carved out of the rock. |
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| Kitroplateia beach day. |
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| Lunch overlooking Mirabello Bay. |
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| The Europa Sculpture. Completely coincidentally, the bull's penis is literally pointing to the exact apartment we stayed in at Agios Nikolaos! "Europa is my name. I am the daughter of the Phoenician King Aginoras and mother of King Minos creator of the Minoan civilisation" - inscription on the statue |
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| Lunch under the carob tree, Plaka. |
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| From Spinalonga island to the mainland. |
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| Exploring Spinalonga |
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| Leper's Gate |
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| Walking Spinalonga's Venetian walls. |
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| Pretty local ceramics for sale in Plaka. |
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| Agios Nikolaos harbour. |
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| Little Lake Voulismeni. |
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| I took this picture of a poster advertising Greece's very first cliff diving competition. On the steep cliff on one side of Agios Nikolaos's Lake Voulismeni there is a platform that the divers will plunge from. The picture shows LakeVoulismeni and pretty Agios Nik behind. We're thinking we might drive back to watch the spectacle on 2 July. |
Fun Fact: Mikey Mouse's father, Walt Disney, holidayed at Agios Nikolaos in the 60s It was the setting of his 1964 movie The Moon Spinners with Hayley Mills. I remember watching that movie when I was 8 or 10 years old (Sunday night's Disneyland). It must have been shown as a two-part movie, and I only every saw one part. I LOVED it, and at the time I didn't understand that it's exotic setting was Crete and I never knew (or remembered) the name of the movie. Mystery solved half a century later!
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