⭐ Travel Guide for Island Crete ⛵, Greece❗

Major cities of Crete are home to impressive architectural structures, mainly from the Venetian and the Ottoman Era. Forts, scenic harbors, palaces, fountains and temples are the main attractions of the cities. On the other hand, the interesting attractions in the hinterland include arched bridges, water and wind mills, aqueducts, cisterns and chapels.

Venetian and Ottoman architectural patterns, combined with features of folklore architecture, are evident in contemporary houses. Arched gates since the Venetian era, and sahnisi (protruding covered balcony) since the Ottoman era, are some of the features used even today.

The traditional rural house is an evolution of the prehistoric home dwelling; it is constructed with stone, branches and soil, while wooden beams support the roof. To the interior, there is space for animals, while the main features include a stone-built wine press covered by with a wooden platform, a fireplace for cooking and heating, and some niches in the walls for storing household utensils.

Some of the most interesting traditional buildings, perfectly adapted to the needs and particularities of the mountainous areas of Crete, are mitata. They are round domed buildings, made solely of dry stone, being an evolution of the domed Minoan tombs. Mitata provided shelter to shepherds and were used for milking goats and cheese-making. They are met in all ranges of Crete, but Nida plateau near Anogia is the most famous place to come across such constructions.

Lassithi Plateau Windmills

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Lassithi plateau hosted, after the 1950s, the first, largest and most beautiful wind farm in the world with approximately 13000 windmills with a total installed power of above 5MW. The windmills operated as pumping engines above the wells of the plain to water the crops in summer.

Elounda windmills

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Contrary to the tradition of building mills on mountains, on the seaside of Elounda's ancient saltpans, we meet three windmills, at the scenic point where a canal connecting the lagoon with the south shores has been constructed. They all are completely circular, turning to all winds (this type is called Xetrocharis.

Preveli Bridge

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The beautiful arched bridge of Prevelis is met on the way to the homonym monastery and crosses Megas River which empties at the famous beach of Preveli. It was built in the 18th century by monks of the monastery.

Village Drakos

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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.

Spilia Aqueduct

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At the area of Agia Irini, Spilia, there is the largest of the aqueduct bridges built in Crete. The aqueduct was built in 1830-40 by the Egyptians after the discovery of the ancient aqueduct of Knossos that had a tunnel of 1150m. Therefore, tunnel was cleaned and reused.

Ambelos Windmills at Selli

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At position Seli Ambelou, at the northern entrance to the Lasithi Plateau, we are welcomed by the most important old windmill park of Crete. Here you still see 24 of the 27 initial windmills, which all belonged to the type Axetrocharis.

Skalia near Zakros

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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.

Morozini Fountain

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The fountain of Morozini (known as Lions) is one of the nicest Venetian monuments of Candia (current Heraklion). The fountain was watered by the spring of Karidaki and the watered traveled about 15km in a gigantic aqueduct, one of the longest in the then world.

Architecture

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