A visit to Spinalonga and on to Zakros.

From Aghios Nicholaos you can make a few interesting outings. So first,  to visit Spinalonga we drove along the coast to Plaka for a boat. 

Fishermen at Plaka

The fortress entrance

Spinalonga was a Venetian fortress for hundreds of years - it didn't fall to the Turks until 1709. Then it was a Turkish settlement, but after Crete - finally, long after the rest of Greece - became independent, the inhabitants left. Then the island became a leper colony. Apparently Crete had a high rate of leprosy and of course there was no cure until the 1950s. At first, it seems that sufferers were taken to the island and pretty much left to their own devices, although things improved later. It didn't close completely until 1973,which seems amazing - a leper colony in Europe until the 1970s.

Restored house

Dead olive. Shows how windy it is here.

 

The main gateway, facing Plaka

Spinalonga

Venetian fortifications. Cannon placed low to the water,
to prevent landings.

It's very exposed and windy and rocky, and although the main street, with some restored buildings and a history of the leper colony, are rather full of tourists, the rest of the island is not. The influx of tourists seems to be due to Victoria Hislop's book "The Island". I have read it but can't remember a great deal about it. But it's obviously been translated all over Europe and probably the government of Crete should give Hislop some sort of award.

So we really enjoyed scrambling around and visiting all the Venetian fortifications and old buildings. You can see tiny terraced and walled fields where the patients farmed a bit - there are very bent olive and fig trees still struggling along.  It's quite moving to think of the Venetians struggling to keep a foothold in Crete for so many years, and then the lepers confined to a tiny windy island until they died. Not, actually, that the Venetians treated the Cretans much better than the Turks did.

We returned on the boat to Plaka and had a superb lunch of baked vegetables and stuffed aubergine, at a lovely traditional taverna with a sea view, and then a potter round. There were a number of surprisingly smart shops and I have to admit I bought a dress. Well, two. The vendeuse was really helpful and Phil was full of holiday spirit. Well, that's my excuse.

We went back to Piato for dinner Once you've found somewhere as good as that don't mess about trying anywhere else,  is our motto. It was just as good as last time. Only problem -  they will insist of giving us a shot of raki, which we both hate. There's a bonsai olive tree on every table; I wonder if raki would kill it...........

The next day we went up onto the Lassithi Plateau and to the Dikteon Cave. The drive up was brilliant, winding up and round hairpin bends, the roadsides rich with broom, vetches, sea hollies, coltsfoot, mallow, rock roses. The Lassithi plateau villages are very traditional but very isolated. It's quite a drive up there now; it's 900 metres above sea level  - in winter it's probably sometimes not possible. 

There are lots of traditional Greek old ladies, all in black including black headscarves. We saw peregrine falcons but apparently you may spot vultures,  or even a lammergeier. As you go through the pass onto the plateau and again as we left on a different road, there are a line of windmills, ruined now, in the wind tunnel. There are still some metal ones with traditional sails raising water. All the houses have a brilliant show of geraniums and roses and there are pomegranate trees still in flower. The main fruit blossoms are over, sadly.

Climbing down.

The Dikteon cave is where Rhea gave birth to Zeus and hid him from his father Chronos, who ate his children.  You climb another 800 metres to the cave entrance and then climb down into the cave. It's brilliant - wonderfully spooky, and it feels as though you are descending into the underworld.

The opening to the cave.

The cave is chockful of amazing pillars where stalagtites and stalagmites have met, and huge expanses of convoluted flowstones - you could imagine anything in the shapes. No wonder it was a place of worship for thousands of years. Very many votive offerings have been found and we were amused to see that visitors have thrown quite a lot of coins into the water at the bottom of the cave. So we threw in a ten cent coin each. I hope Zeus doesn't feel short changed!

After returning to Aghios Nicholaos I had a swim and then we went for dinner at the same restaurant. I don't think we are likely to eat as well from now on. I also managed to get the grandsons T shirts with friendly octopi on them. There was a shop opposite the museum in Hieraklion selling T shirts with the Minoan friendly octopus design on them, but to my disappointment it was closed. I don't believe in insisting on bringing a present home from holiday, but I did fancy the friendly octopus, so I'm pleased we managed to get them.

Next day, Wednesday, we packed up and set off for Kato Zakros, right at the east end of the island. We stopped in Sitia (SitEEa), where the car park was so crammed that I got out to help Phil back into the place we'd found. I was astonished to be clapped on the shoulder by a middle aged Cretan man who took over the directions! Clearly it was man's work. After all, what would a woman know about reversing a car? It was quite difficult for both of us to keep a straight face and thank him.  

Sitia is pleasant enough but not nearly as nice as Aghios Nicholaos. It had a large pond which I think was a mix of seawater and fresh water, and I saw a blue heron which was very exciting. There were some traditional caiques in the harbour, and an Arab dhow.

 It does have a small but very worthwhile archeological museum. The highlight was a priestess's ivory jewel box, the gold and beaded necklaces in it and a set of large ivory pins, presumably for her hair; Minoan women's clothes, as depicted in the frescoes, don't seem to require much fastening.

Then we drove on over the mountains. The roads are lined with oleander and broom and the mountains have their feet in the blue sea. It's gorgeous. We got held up by a flock of sheep, in the charge of two men with crooks, but no dogs. They could have done with a dog; the sheep weren't nearly as impressed as they should have been, not just by our car but by the fuel tanker which followed us. We stopped at Moni Toplou, which is a fortified monastery. (Toplou means "with a cannon"). It's in a wilderness of rock and scrub. There were a few goats which put me in mind of Holman Hunt's picture The Scapegoat, that's how desolate it was. The monastery is fifteenth century, but has been attacked by Saracen pirates, the Knights of Malta, the Turks of course, more than once - in fact more or less everyone you can think of, because it has always been important in supporting Cretan independence. In fact the German invaders continued the tradition and shot the abbot. There are some lovely icons, including one that is apparently very important, illustrating an important Orthodox prayer, and I'm afraid it went over our heads.

Moni Toplou

Eventually we arrived at Kato Zakros, which is really just three or so tavernas with rooms along the beach, near the entrance to the archaeological site of the Minoan palace of Zakros. Our room is very simple and basic and almost on the beach. It's all a bit hippyish and brilliant. One goes to sleep to the sound of the sea on the shingly beach, and there is a view of the bay and headlands as soon as you get up. A lot of our friends like luxury hotels, but they aren't really our cup of tea, and a site like this definitely is. So I had a wonderfully refreshing swim, and then we went for dinner at the taverna. It's traditional Cretan food and well done, and they do grills over an olive wood fire which smells delicious. 

Kato Zakros