The island of Crete (Kriti), the largest island in Greece (8,261 sq km, more than 620,000 inhabitants) and the fifth largest among the islands of the Mediterranean Sea, is located in the Aegean Sea, and with its shape long and narrow separates this sea from the Libyan Sea. The island is mainly mountainous with chains that far exceeded 2,000 meters: the Dikti Oros whose highest peak reaches 2,146 meters, the Lefka Ori reaching an altitude of 2,452 meters, and Mount Ida that with 2,456 meters is the highest peak of the island. The plains are a low percentage of Cretan land, the largest and most important is that of Messara.
The coasts are generally very rugged, but there are great differences between the north and south. The first is the most densely populated because of the coastal chains fall more gently towards the sea. The second is mostly steep and rugged and has a much drier climate and has always been sparsely populated. In addition to tourism, the main economic resources of the island are agriculture (olives, olive oil, wine, fruit, cereals, and potatoes) and the sheep.
Crete is rich in history, here between the Neolithic and Bronze Age developed Minoan-Cretan civilization, in this period, the advantageous geographical position of the island favored the emergence of a flourishing sea empire that from the Aegean Sea controlled a network trade that reached Egypt, Syria, the regions north of the Black Sea and the Western Mediterranean.
Are typical of the Cretan architecture are the great palaces built in the early second millennium at Knossos, Phaistos, Tilisso and Mallia, destroyed and rebuilt between 1700 and 1600 a. C. In the Cretean cities is absent any trace of defensive walls, very beautiful the scant remains of frescoes still visible at Knossos, Hagia Triada, which give a feeble idea of the wealth and splendor of this civilization.
After the golden age, because of natural disasters and Doric invasions , the island experienced a long period of decline, during which it lived practically in terms of isolation from the rest of Greece. The island saw succession over the centuries the Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Venetian and Ottoman dominations.
RECOMMENDED HOTELS IN CRETE:
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Nik. Plastira 1 , 73100 Kato Stalos (Crete)
New hotel that offers breathtaking views of the sea, with panoramic pool. |
Antoniou Gamba 33, (Old Town), 73100 Chania (Crete)
Studios made from an old building located in the center of Chania. |
Eleftheriou Venizelou & Agias Pelagias Street , 71500 Agia Pelagia (Crete)
Apartments (studios) located in Agia Pelagia, not far from downtown and the beach, have also a small pool. |
