Greece - Korina Miller [366]
The northern coast features Crete’s urban areas, and most of its package-tour resorts. Head south for off-the-beaten-track outdoors activities and pristine, peaceful beaches. The rugged interior, intermittently made up of mountains, agricultural plains and plateaus, hosts some of Crete’s most authentic and down-to-earth villages, where you’ll get a warm welcome from black-clad elders; such humble places often have the best (and cheapest) locally produced olive oil, honey, raki (Cretan firewater) and other superlative Cretan products.
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HIGHLIGHTS
Time Out Wandering the beautiful back lanes of Hania’s Venetian Old Town
Minoan Magnificence Visiting the grand, reconstructed Minoan palace at Knossos
Sylvan Idylls Experiencing the haunted woodlands waterfalls and hermits’ caves of offbeat Azogires village Click here
Soldiering On Taking the six-hour hike through Europe’s longest gorge, Samaria
Back in Time Exploring the ruined Venetian fortress of Spinalonga, occupying its own islet in Crete’s northeast
Beach Bliss Swimming under a full moon at the south coast’s remote Agios Pavlos and Triopetra beaches Click here
Livin’ Large Kicking back amid the olive groves, beaches and big winds of lively Plakias
Population: 540,045
Area: 8335 sq km
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History
Although it’s been inhabited since Neolithic times (7000–3000 BC), Crete is most famous for its advanced Minoan civilisation. Traces of this still enigmatic society were only uncovered in the early 20th century, when British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans discovered and then restored the palace at Knossos. Since no one knew what to call this lost race, Sir Arthur made an adjective of the mythical King Minos, the legendary former ruler of Knossos – and so emerged the name ‘Minoans’.
Their actual name notwithstanding, we do know that the Minoans migrated to Crete in the 3rd millennium BC. These mysterious people were expert in metallurgy, making unprecedented artistic, engineering and cultural achievements during the Protopalatial period (3400–2100 BC); their most famous palaces (at Knossos, Phaestos, Malia and Zakros) were built then. Artistically, the frescoes discovered at Knossos have a naturalism lacking in contemporary Cycladic figurines, ancient Egyptian artwork and later Archaic sculpture. The Minoans also began producing their exquisite Kamares pottery and silverware, and became a maritime power, trading with Egypt and Asia Minor.
Around 1700 BC, however, an earthquake destroyed the great palace complexes. Undeterred, the Minoans built bigger and better ones over the ruins, while settling more widely across Crete. Around 1450 BC, when the Minoan civilisation was in the ascendant, the palaces were mysteriously destroyed again, probably by a giant tsunami triggered by the massive volcanic eruption on Santorini (Thira). Knossos, the only palace saved, was finally burned down around 1400 BC.
Archaeological evidence shows that the Minoans lingered on for a few centuries in small, isolated settlements before disappearing as mysteriously as they had come. They were followed by the Mycenaeans, and the Dorians (around 1100 BC). By the 5th century BC, at the acme of classical Greek civilisation, Crete was divided into city-states. However, the island did not benefit particularly from the cultural glories of mainland Greece, and was bypassed by Persian invaders and the Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great.
By 67 BC Crete had become the Roman province of Cyrenaica, with south-central Gortyna its capital; this province also included large chunks of North Africa. With the empire’s division in AD 395 Crete, along with most of the Balkan Peninsula, fell under