Settlements

The settlement of Drakos (i.e. Dragon) is located close to Limnes (Agios Nikolaos). It is one of the several abandoned villages of the area. The last resident left the Drakos in 1979. It is a model of agricultural village with stone houses with tiles, narrow streets, cisterns for collecting rainwater and scattered threshing floors.

A small castle was located near the village Sitanos of Sitia Region, namely Skalia. Skalia was a small village with a few residents built atop a mountain slope, where the outer walls of the houses formed a wall that surrounded the village, while from the north it was protected by cliffs.

Achlada is one of the nearest villages to Heraklion. Its name is taken after the wild pear tree called ahlada or agoutsakas that abounds here. Ahlada is built on top of a fortified hill above the bay of Agia Pelagia, in an area with a wonderful climate. After many years of continuous habitation Ahlada has almost transformed to a ghost village, despite its proximity to Heraklion.

Kolokasia is a deserted village of Sfakia province, near the exit of the gorge Asfendou and near the village of Agios Nektarios. Its inhabitants mainly abandoned it because of its isolated position and moved to Agios Nektarios. Today most of the houses are dilapidated and some have been restored by some Germans who bought the ruined houses and restored them. The houses are a live sample of the simple traditional architecture of Sfakia.

On the European hiking trail E4 connecting Alones to Agios Konstantinos, atop a hill near Moundros village, we meet the deserted settlement of Nissi. Its remaining collapsed houses depict that this place has an important past. Among the dilapidated houses, there survives the church of Saint George, while a few meters away there is the church of Panagia Nissiani.

Next to the lively village Valis of Messara Plain (Heraklion prefecture) you will find Xerokambos, a ruined and abandoned village. The last residents left Xerokambos shortly after the Second World War, during which many villages in Crete were devastated. There are houses that still stand, where youcan admire the unique typical architecture of Cretan cottages, all built with stone.

The innerland of Crete is full of deserted villages. One of the most impressive deserted villages of Crete, which was quite large, was Kalathiana, located between the villages of Makres and Moroni. Kalathiana was a victim of the general urbanization the prevailed in Crete after the end of the Second World War and was totally deserted at '70s.

Near the villages of Episkopi and Mourtzana, in a lush green valley, we still see the ruins of the houses and the watermills of the village Mousses or Moussi. In this village we meet the five watermills that took advantage of the abundant water of the area for grinding grain of the surrounding villages. The mills operated till the 1950s, when the modern technology surpassed the traditional way of grinding. Thus, the millers who saw their job diminishing, had to leave this wonderful place and seek their future elsewhere.