This Website is about Southern Crete, especially the region of the Messara
The Messara area is the most fertile plain on the island. Even Zeus, disposer of the Olymp, knew that. Lactated in Crete Zeus as lovefoul young man kidnapped the beautiful innocent girl Europa and brought her to the South of Crete.
we all know how this story went on...
Some things about the Messara in Southcrete
The natural northern frontier is presented by the Ida-mountains with its highest point called the Psilotis (2465m).
It is covered by snow between november and may. Its a great feeling to be sweat on the beach seeing the sugar covered mountains from the corner of your eye.
In the south you can find the Asterousia Mountains with its highest point the Kofinas.
On the coast there are little villages like Matala with its coves inhabited by real hippies 30 years ago or Kalamaki placed at a very long sandy beach, Kokkinos Pirgos to take a nice bath, Agia Gallini with its beautyful harbour and tavernas and bars and kafenions or lots of pictural small villages and places.
The plain of Messara drags on from the inland to the coast.
Typical for this landscape are olivetrees, fields with artishoks, honey- and watermelons, greenhouses, oranges and citrons, vineyards, villages, the two administration districts Mires and Tymbaki, from time to time a cow, sheeps with shepards, a donkey, straying cats and dogs, pickups, some palms and and and ...
Come and find out yourself!
Ah! And we should absolutly not forget the Minoen,
who left a few things behind in Greece an Crete ...
The Minoens (a blooming civilization during the bronzeage between 3000 and 1000 befor Jesus) are called the Minorens, because the discoverer Sir Arthur Evans of the famous palace Knossos placed on the northcoast of Crete (near the capital city Iraklio) named them after their their king Minos.
Not so well preserved or restored,
but even so very interesting is the palace of Phaistos, a few kilometers seated coastal. There was the famous Diskus of Phaistos found. An unbelievable exciting thing with characters leading round in form of a spiral on both sides. Until tody nobody was able to encrypt the diskus. Needless to say there are tons of theories and efforts of interpretation, but nothing matched.
Imagine we explore the universe and we cant translate a few characters ...
In case you want to immerse yourself in that theme, you should visit Phaistos. After a survived survey ( it might be a little hot) you should order in the museumscafe a helenico and enjoy the fantastic few over the Messara plane and the beginning mountains ...