Facts about Crete

Although Crete remains one of the most popular European destinations for holidays, many visitors are unaware of some very interesting facts about the island.

1. Zeus birthplace: The most important god in the Greek pantheon, Zeus, was born on the island. According to the legend he was born in a Cretan cave. What maybe you didn’t know is there are two different caves on the island and both claim to have been his place of birth: the Psychro cave in the Lasithi Plateau and the Ideon Cave on Mount Psiloritis.
2. Oldest city in Europe: Knossos, now home to one of the most visited archaeological sites in Greece, is considered to be the oldest city in Europe.
3. Size of Crete: Crete is the biggest Greek island, the 5th biggest in the Mediterranean, and the 88th biggest island in the world.
4. Crete was not always Greek: people often get surprised when they learn that Crete was not always a part of Greece.  On December 1913 the island united with Greece. Crete was endless years under the rule of foreign domination before becoming a part of the Greek state.
5. Snow in Crete: it may sound strange but it actually snows on the high mountains of Crete(White Mountains, Psiloreitis and Dikti mountain range). The weather in this places can be really cold.
6. Blue Flags: Crete has the most beaches awarded with Blue Flag in Greece(The iconic Blue Flag is one of the world’s most recognised voluntary awards for beaches, marinas, and sustainable tourism boats. In order to qualify for the Blue Flag, a series of stringent environmental, educational, safety, and accessibility criteria must be met and maintained.).
7. Healing Air: the air in Crete is thought to have true healing powers. This fact was supported by the father of medicine, Hippocrates, who was convinced that the air on Crete could work miracles on anybody’s health. Visit our island and take a deep breath!
8. Olive trees: they always thrived in Crete but here you can find some of the oldest alive olive trees in the world! One of these trees is in the village of Vouves, in the Chania, while the other one is in Kavousi, a small village in Lasithi. 
9. Cretan Goat: the most famous rare animal in Crete is the wild Cretan Goat, also known as Kri Kri. This beautiful creature once came close to extinction and is now only found on the island of Crete. Most of these goats live in the Samaria Gorge area, with some roaming uninhabited islands. 
10. The legend of Icarus: according to the myth whici took place in Crete, the son of Daedalus, Icarus, wanted to fly so he made winds and conquered the sky until he got too close to the sun. The bright sun melted the wax on his handmade wings leading Icarus to his death. The Icaria Sea is named after the legendary Icarus, the man with wings.
11. Many places to explore: there are more than 200 gorges and over 5.000 recorded caves in Crete.
12. Famous people come from Crete: for such a small island the list is very long. The list includes Odysseas Elytis, Nikos Kazantzakis and Dominikos Theotokopoulos(known also as El Greco).
13. Vai Palm Forest: the impressive palm tree forest in Vai is the biggest and most important palm forest in Europe.  According to the commonest story, Arab pirates came here in their ships, ate the dates they had brought with them and threw the stones on the ground. From these dates grew about 6,000 palm trees, of which 4,500 are still growing today.