We drove to Rethymnon, a small city of some 35.000 inhabitants, on a rainy day in October. Autumn was rapidly approaching on Crete and it was chilly and wet. There was a lot of traffic on the city streets and we had to drive around for quite a while before…
A conversation about the village of Fodele could go something like this: “Ah, Fodele, that’s where the famous Cretan painter El Greco was born!” “In your dreams, Nikos, he was born in Candia, present-day Heraklion.” “Nonsense, he was born in Fodele, and we have the proof! There’s a museum at…
Comparing the palace complexes of Knossos and Phaistos is like comparing day and night. Visiting Phaistos is a completely different experience. Phaistos is about half as famous as Knossos, it is much smaller, does not draw huge crowds and little to no restoration work has been carried out here. The…
A trip to Crete is not complete without a visit to the Minoan palace complex of Knossos. The first palace here was built during the Old Palace period (1900-1700 BCE). Around 1700 BCE, this palace was destroyed, presumably by an earthquake. It was rebuilt soon afterwards. The ruins we see…
Chania is the second largest city on Crete, with a population of over 50.000 inhabitants. It is also, in my honest opinion, by far the most relaxed, charming and beautiful city on the island. We drove all the way from Ligaria near Heraklion to Chania, which is about 100 kilometres…
Heraklion is the capital of Crete. With over 170.000 inhabitants, it is also by far the largest city on the island. Although there is a lot of traffic and congestion, it is still pleasant to walk through the streets of the historical city centre, where in most places only pedestrians…
Gortys, also known as Gortyn or Gortyna, was the capital of Roman Crete. It was destroyed in the ninth century by Muslim Arab raiders and the area has been uninhabited ever since. At the end of the nineteenth century, the Italian archaeologist Federico Halbherr and his team began excavating at…
Crete, like most islands in the Mediterranean, has always been a crossroads of civilisations. It has been inhabited since at least 6000 BCE, when migrants from Anatolia in present-day Turkey crossed the sea and settled on the island. Some 3000 years later, Crete was part of an extensive naval trade…
Paphos and environs are a good spot to learn more about Cyprus’ complex history. Monuments of most of the civilisations that have been present on the island can be seen here. From the cult of the goddess Aphrodite to the Lusignan dynasty, and from the Ottoman Turks to the British…
Polis is the Greek word for ‘city’ or ‘city state’. The Polis I discuss here is a town of some 3.500 inhabitants in the northwest of Cyprus. It is also known as Polis Chrysochous, ‘city of the golden land’. The town itself is small but interesting, and further to the…
Kourion – Curium in Latin – was an important city state in Ancient Cyprus. It flourished during the Ptolemaic and Roman eras, until it was almost completely destroyed by two earthquakes in the fourth century CE. A rebuilt Kourion was an easy target for Arab raiders, who destroyed the city…
Paphos in the southwest of Cyprus is known for quite a few historical treasures. It became the capital of Cyprus during the Ptolemaic period (ca. 323-58 BCE), when the island was ruled by the descendants of Alexander the Great’s general Ptolemaios. Previously, the capital had been at Salamis, but the…
