⭐ Travel Guide for Island Crete ⛵, Greece❗

During the Cretan Revolution of 1866-1869, the Ottoman Empire was forced to send several pashas in Crete, but the effort proved fruitless. The latest Pasha sent to the island was Avni Pasha, who faced the continuing resistance of the Cretans and decided to change his operational tactics.

Thus, the measures he took were:

He provided political protection to those who declared allegiance to the muftis.
The Turkish fleet ruled the northern coast of Crete, so as to stop supplies coming from Greece.
Put a price on the Cretan rebels, with 500 ottoman pounds each.
He settled Kurds and Circassians to the island, in order to strengthen the Muslim population.
He designed an entire system of large and small towers (called koules) in prominent locations throughout Crete, in order to fully control the island.

Specifically, Crete was divided into five provinces, the governors of which undertook the construction of koules. The koules were built on high hills, crossroads, ports, passages and their guards spied the rebels and the transporting Christians. They intercommunicated (with fanfare or fire) in case of an emergency and delivered the alert message serially to the main camp (called Kiesle). The effectiveness of Koules was devastating for the Cretans, as they could no longer easily intercommunicate.

The Cretans reacted actively during the erection of the towers, harassing the builders, destroying the buildings in the evenings or destroying lime furnaces, from where the Turks supplied lime for building. Nevertheless, Avni Pasha managed to complete his project by using experienced Bulgarian and Armenian craftsmen, who until August 1868 had built more than 60 koules and 2 months later this number increased to 150.

As mentioned, the Turks called these towers koules, after the Turkish kule. The only difference between them and the rest towers of the island is that koules were built by the state, rather than by private feudal lords and onwers (mainly Venetian).

The Cretans, while trying to free themselves, destroyed several Koules, many of which do not currently exist. However, dozens of areas on Crete have relevant place names (koule or pirgos (tower)), that implies the former existence of towers. Due to the large number of the Koules, here we will not deal with all of them, but a few that still exist.

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Aptera Koules

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The fort of Koules is located in Paleokastro area, 12km east of Chania, near the village of Kalami and close to the ruins of ancient Aptera. The fort was built by the Turks after the Cretan Revolution of 1866, in the framework of a program to control Crete from a network of towers.

Voukelasi Koules (Pikilasos)

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This is one of the several Turkish towers (koules) that the Turks built in the late 19th century in order to control the south shores of Crete. This is ruined and has amazing views to the surrounding areas.

Koxare Koules

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The most important passage of Rethymnon prefecture was that of Agios Vasilios (south), through where Turks and Greeks traveled from Mesara plain to Sfakia area. Thus, several towers (kouledes) were built. Such one Koules was built near the entrance of the gorge Kourtaliotis, near the village Koxare. The tower was partially destroyed by the Cretan rebels in 1896.

Plakias Koules

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One of the many Turkish towers (Koules) built by the Turks in Crete is that of Plakias at South Rethymno. It was built on a hill of conglomerate grounds, with steep cliffs at its east and south sides, inside a fortified enclosure.

Agia Roumeli Koules

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On the west side of the exit of Samaria Gorge, above the current village of Agia Roumeli, the Turks built the Koules of Agia Roumeli to suppress the rebels hiding in the gorge. This Koules is in quite good condition. There were three more towers in wider area of Agia Roumeli (in Skoteini, Aggelokambos and Sideris positions)

Nio Chorio Koules

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The Koules in Nio Chorio is located in the middle of Apokoronas Province, about 25km southeast of Chania and close to the village of Nio Chorio. On the hill of the fort leads a road starting from Nio Chorio. The fort is not well preserved, with only a few walls standing and commemorating its glorious past.

Askyfou Koules

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Askyfou Plateau, about 50km south of Chania city, is located in a strategic position and is formed on the passage that connects the southern shores of Sfakia to the north coasts of Crete. Sfakia did always breed great revolutionaries and the Turks always wanted to control them. Thus, in response to the Cretan Revolution of 1866, they began construct Koules, i.e. small castles, in the most important locations of Sfakia.

Koules of Loutro

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Above Loutro there are still the ruins of the Turkish fortress, Koules, which dominated over the current settlement. The building was built in 1868 and had two towers on west and east sides. It has rectangular shape and some of its walls survive. Outside the walls, there are big tanks surviving.

Koules

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