Sights of Crete

A representative of Mika Travel will be available to make arrangements and advise you on all aspects of travel during your stay in Crete.
Location: Registration Office at the Conference Center, in Creta Maris Hotel.
Time: Starting from Pre-Registration on October 11, 2012 at 14:30 hours.

Excursions

Pre-booking for the Congress tour on October 11, 2012, together with your registration is recommended, as this tour is likely later to be fully-booked. Details can be found in the Registration form.

Crete (Κρήτη / Kriti, occasionally spelled "Krete" in English) is the largest of the Greek islands and is in the Mediterranean Sea between the Sea of Crete and the Libyan Sea, south of the Peloponnese.
Crete is approximately 260 km long and 60 km wide. Crete consists of four prefectures: Chania, Rethimno, Heraklion and Lasithi. If there was a beauty contest for Greek islands, Crete would surely be among the favorites. Indeed, some say there is no place on earth like Crete. This view is strongly supported by those fortunate enough to have visited the island.
Crete, with a population of approximately 650,000, is not just sun, sea and sand; it is a quite distinct place full of vitality, warmth, hospitality, culture and of course an excellent infrastructure.
Crete is well known for its seas and beaches but it has a very contrasting landscape. The island goes from fertile coastal plains to rugged mountains and from busy metropolitan cities to very peaceful hillside homes. If you travel throughout Crete you can clearly see remnants of Roman and Turkish aqueducts and architecture from when these people invaded the island long ago.

Crete is divided in four prefectures. From west to east:

Heraklion (Greek Ηράκλειον, also transliterated as Heraklio, Iraklion or Irakleio) [1] is the major city and capital of the largest Greek island of Crete. Its Archaeological Museum holds the remains of the 3000-year old Minoan civilization, which grew aroud the nearby legendary palace of Knossos (of Minotaur fame), as well as Byzantine churches and a well-preserved Venetian wall and fortress from the 15th century. Heraklion (or Herakleion, Iraklio, Irakleion) is the capital of Crete and an industrialised city of around 155,000 residents. The modern city is densely populated and traffic chocked, at first overwhelming the visitor. However, in recent years, things have began to change and efforts are being made to bring out the beauty of the city's rich cultural history. Strolling along the coastline, the city Wall, or down a park can reveal various historical remains of potentially immense interest to the watchful eye. The knowledgeable visitor will be able to trace the past under the urban sprawl of the present. The core of the city is still enclosed and defined by the Venetian wall, which includes seven outjutting bastions. In the southernmost of these, the Martinengo Bastion, is the grave of Nikos Kazantzakis, standing on a windswept hilltop with its moving inscription, "I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free."

Chania (Greek Χανιά, also transliterated Hania or even Khania) is a beautiful port town on the north west coast of Crete, with an atmosphere reflecting its Venetian and Turkish past. Highly livable spot. Chania and the long row of beach resorts stretching 20 km west along the beaches of the Chania bay is a well visited destination for Scandinavian charter trips. Chania, being the nearest city, is a attractive destination for sightseeing and shopping for many tourists. Here is plenty of opportunities for eating and drinking on Greek tavernas and modern cafés that are open into the night. The old town is centered around the harbor, it is a maze of alleys and houses that has been standing for many hundred years rebuilt,ruined and built up again with details from the different epochs. Old town is full of souvenir, art and crafts shops; the new quarters house the regular span of shops, here you can find the most of your needs for the hiking or other adventures. The beaches begin in the city a bit away but not far from the old town. Nearest one is Nea Hora, a 1 km. walk from the west end of the Old Town.

Rethymno (Greek: Ρέθυμνο, pronounced, also Rethimno, Rethymnon, Réthymnon, and Rhíthymnos), a city of approximately 40,000 people, is the capital of Rethymnon Prefecture in the island of Crete. It was built in antiquity (ancient Rhithymna and Arsinoe), even though it has never been a competitive Minoan center. It was, however, strong enough to mint its own coins and maintain a mild urban growth. One of these coins is today depicted as the crest of the town with two dolphins.
Rethymnon started growing again when the Venetian conquerors of the island wanted to have an intermediate commercial station between Heraklion and Chania acquiring its own bishop and nobility. Today's old town (palia poli) is almost entirely built by Venetians. Rethymnon is one of the best preserved old towns in Crete. The town still maintains its old aristocratic appearance, with its buildings dating from the 16th century, arched doorways, stone staircases, Byzantine and Hellenic-Roman remains, small Venetian harbor and narrow streets. The Venetian Loggia today houses the information office of the ministry of culture. The Wine Festival is held there annually at the beginning of July. Another festival is held on 7-8 th of November, in memory of the destruction of Arkadi Monastery.
It has a Venetian castle called the Fortezza which is the one of the biggest and best standing castles in Crete. Other monuments include the Neratze mosque (St. Katherine's Catholic Church), the Great Gate (megali porta, Porta Guerra), the Piazza Rimondi (Rimmondi square), the Venetian Loggia etc. Today its mainincome is tourism, with large facilities that have been built the past 20 years and Agriculture especially, for its olive oil and Mediterranean products. It is also the base of the Philosophical Schooland the University Library of the University of Crete and the School of Social and Political Sciences having 8,000 students every year on its University Campus at "Galos" and where the Academic Institute of Mediterranean Studies is situated.

Although Crete has been inhabited since Neolithic times (7000–3000 BC), for most people its history begins with the Minoan civilisation. The glories of Crete’s Minoan past remained hidden until British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans made his dramatic discoveries at Knossos in the early 1900s. The term ‘Minoan’ was coined by Evans and derived from the King Minos of Greek mythology. Nobody knows what the Minoans called themselves.

Among the ruins unearthed by Evans were the famous Knossos frescoes. Artistically, the frescoes are superlative; the figures that grace them have a naturalism lacking in contemporary Cycladic figurines, ancient Egyptian artwork (which they resemble in certain respects), and the Archaic sculpture that came later.

What is known is that early in the 3rd millennium BC, an advanced people migrated to Crete and brought with them the art of metallurgy. The Protopalatial period (3400–2100 BC) saw the emergence of a society of unprecedented artistic, engineering and cultural achievement. It was during this time that the famous palace complexes were built at Knossos, Phaestos, Malia and Zakros. Also during this time, the Minoans began producing their exquisite Kamares pottery and silverware, and became a maritime power trading with Egypt and Asia Minor.

Around 1700 BC the complexes were destroyed by an earthquake. Undeterred, the Minoans built bigger and better palaces on the sites of the originals, as well as new settlements in other parts of the island.

Around 1450 BC, when the Minoan civilisation was at its peak, the palaces were mysteriously destroyed again. While there is continued speculation as to the cause of this destruction, the latest theory suggests it was the result of a giant tsunami that followed the massive volcanic eruption on the island of Santorini (Thira). Knossos was the only palace to be salvaged. It was finally destroyed by fire around 1400 BC.

The Myceneans appeared in Crete during this time, but the Minoan civilisation was a hard act to follow. The war-orientated Dorians, who arrived in Greece around 1100 BC, were pedestrian by comparison. The 5th century BC found Crete, like the rest of the country, divided into city-states. The glorious classical age of mainland Greece had little impact on Crete, and the Persians bypassed the island. It was also ignored by Alexander the Great, so was never part of the Macedonian Empire.

By 67 BC, Crete had fallen to the Romans. The town of Gortyna in the south became the capital of Cyrenaica, a province that included large chunks of North Africa. Crete, along with the rest of Greece, became part of the Byzantine Empire in AD 395. In 1210 Crete was occupied by the Venetians, whose legacy is one of mighty fortresses, ornate public buildings and monuments, and handsome dwellings.

Despite the massive Venetian fortifications, which sprang up all over the island, by 1669 the whole of the mainland was under Turkish rule. The first uprising against the Turks was led by Ioannis Daskalogiannis in 1770. Many more insurrections followed, and in 1898 the Great Powers (Great Britain, France and Russia) intervened and made the island a British protectorate. It was not until the signing of the Treaty of Bucharest in 1913 that Crete officially became part of Greece, although the island’s parliament had declared a de facto union in 1905.

Crete saw much heavy fighting during WWII. Germany wanted the island as an air base and on 20 May 1941 German parachutists landed on Crete. It was the start of 10 days of fierce fighting that became known as the Battle of Crete. For two whole days the battle hung in the balance until Germany won a bridgehead for its air force at Maleme, located near Hania. The Allied forces of Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Greece then fought a valiant rear-guard action which enabled the British Navy to evacuate 18, 000 of the 32, 000 Allied troops on the island. The German occupation of Crete lasted until the end of WWII.

During the war a large and active resistance movement was subject to heavy reprisals from the Germans. Many of Crete’s mountain villages were bombed or burnt down and their occupants killed.

Last update: 29^th December 2011