Marnellides Windmills
Windmills are characteristic of eastern Crete (Lassithi) and particularly of the province of Merambelo, where rivers are absent. In Western Crete, where there are more springs and rivers, watermills were developed. Another reason is Lasithi is one of the windiest places in Greece. The mills were built into mountainsides and in places exposed to the winds.
Near the settlement of Marnellides, Merambelo district, we still meet one of the many windmill parks of Crete. There are still standing 8 windmills in a row, while a little further up the mountain there is a ninth secluded windmill. . Others survive in good condition and others have collapsed. Marnellides mills are of the more usual windmill type of Crete that turns only in certain wind and is called Axetrocharis (this has a rectangular shape). These mills were used for grinding grain.
