⭐ 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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Fort Kouledaki by Agia Roumeli

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The mountainous and inhospitable province of Sfakia hosts several small and large koules, ie Ottoman towers, which was built by the Ottomans to control this revolutionary area. One of the most unknown forts lies in ruins in the mountains west of the gorge of Samaria and you can reach it via the trail of the known Koules of Agia Roumeli.

Vathiakos Koules

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At the eastern edge of the valley of Amari, two towers were built, the Koules of Vathiakos and Lochria. The Koules of Vathiakos, built on the hill south of the village, served a dual purpose. First, it controlled the passages to Messara.

Kastelos Koules, Fodele

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Fodele area was a very important passage during the Venetian and Turkish Era, which made the occupiers build towers and forts at almost every peak. The Turks wanted to fully control the passage of Fodele and simultaneously monitor the bay (the current beach of Fodele), where the Greek ships often beached for supporting the rebels.

Bobias Range

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At the north coast of Heraklion, between the beaches of Agia Pelagia and Fodele rises the steep low range of Bobias (max altitude is 423 meters). This area actually belongs to the small range of Kouloukonas. Despite its low altitude, it is a really wild place with slopes in the west and north side that raises sharply above sea.

Kazarma fort at Episkopi

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Above Episkopi, province Ierapetra, we meet one Ottoman Tower (Koules), one of the many built in 1868 by the ottoman Avni Pasha. The defensive tower was built there to control the passage of the isthmus of Ierapetra.

Malia Koules

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South of Malia rises a small mountain which locals call Kouledes. Its name is taken after the Turkish fortresses (koule) built by the Ottomans to control the fertile plain of Malia. The Turkish forts of Malia had eye contact so as to communicate in case of emergency. Although they have almost been completely destroyed, the existence of so many fortresses in such close distance indicated how important the plane of Malia and the surrounding passages were for the Ottomans.

Kelia Koules, Fodele

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One of these Turkish Towers was built at the position Kelia, just above Fodele beach (south of the beach) overlooking the sea. Today some ruins of the fort remind of its glory past, although completely abandoned by the local government. Next to it, we meet the chapel dedicated to Saint John, which once served as a monastery. The cells (kelia) of the monks gave their name to the area.

Kokkinos Pirgos Koules at Fodele

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The koules (tower) of Kokkinos Pirgos (Red Tower) is located close to Fodele. It is one of the three seaside Turkish towers built at this position. Although looks close, it is very hard to reach the fort due to dense vegetation and wires (for flocks).

Koules

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