Sights Towns and Villages ..in West Crete Paleochora, The Bride of The Libyan Sea - West Crete, Chania
| Paleochora, The Bride of The Libyan Sea - West Crete, Chania |
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Getting around in Paleochora is easy. It takes just about 5 minutes to walk from the west cost to the east coast and all of the town lies between the two so you are never far away from anywhere. Someone once described it as like being on a tiny private Greek island as it is easy to forget that you are connected to a large land mass. That land mass is useful, mind you. The large mountains protect Paleochora from the worst weather. Many times it can be pouring with rain on the north coast and sunny and dry in Paleochora! The town boasts two 'Blue Flag' beaches, a huge sandy beach on the west side and a pebble beach on the east side. This is useful as, on windy days, there is always a beach which is sheltered. The water is very clean, crystal clear and there are no dangerous currents so bathing is safe for all. In fact Paleochora is an ideal destination for an old-fashioned family holiday. The headland of the peninsular is dominated by an 12th century Venetian Fort which is well worth exploring - unfortunately mostly just the walls remain these days, but there has ben a lot of archaeological work carried out to show the structures which once stood here. Besides that, the views back to the town with the mountains behind is wonderful. Keep your eyes peeled! You may discover a centuries old Venetian coin on the ground or even an old cannonball! At night the town transforms itself into a low-key but interesting resort. The main street which runs through the cent re of the town and the east beach promenade are closed to traffic after 7pm and restaurants and bars put their tables out into the roads. Walking around town hearing many different languages spoken with people enjoying themselves is a real pleasure. There is no drunken behavior, no louts just nice good people all having a pleasant evening. This is a complete escape from the brash, 'in-your-face' resorts which a lot of small towns have grown in to. Here you can experience Greece as it was 25 or 30 years ago (even the prices here are the lowest on Crete).
From Kandanos to Paleochora:
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| Last Updated on Friday, 16 March 2012 00:07 |
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A varied and changing menu with food being freshly cooked by Liselotte and presented by the delightfully eccentric Joseph (the best moustache in the business). Both imaginative and based on their worldly experiences makes the restaurant well worthy of this recommendation. The seating is in a small garden (check your Greek and you will tie in the English version of the name) at the rear.
For what you pay and given the standard and the service this is a place which is well worth booking.
We have visited over a number of years and look forward each year to one of the evening highlights of our stay.
Visited September 2011
On the southern edge of the peninsula and specifically on Kastela hill (today’s Fortetza) there had been a wall, domed buildings and an underground aqueduct before the 1897 revolution took place.
The Duke of Crete Marino Gradonico built the fortress of Paleohora in 1282 and named it Selino (that is how the whole region probably took its name).
Revolutionary Vardas Kallergis took the fortress in 1332 and killed Kastelano Ermolao Velenio, his guards and his family.
In 1539, Pirate Barbarossa destroyed the fortress which was rebuilt again in 1595.
The Turkish took it in 1653 but some years later they were forced to abandon it.
Since the Turkish left, Paleohora remained uninhabited until 1886 when it gradually became an important harbour connecting the region to Chania.
Polioudovardas, a well known warrior, as well as Kriaris, the chief of the region, who both fought against the Turkish occupation, came from Paleohora.
It is said that during the 1897 revolution, after the Turkish had slaughtered all non-combatant residents of Sarakina, they entered two houses in Paleohora where many Christian men, women and children were hiding, and slaughtered them all, too.
Before the war with the Germans, Paleohora had become a very prosperous region due to the fact that it was directly connected to Piraeus harbour.
From 1940 to 1960 however, that prosperity declined.
On 1st September 1941, the Germans surrounded the whole region of Selino, arrested all resistance fighters and transferred them to Paleohora. Their unfair trial took place in the oil mill of the village and they were executed one by one in the cemetery yard. The executions lasted for 4 days and the people murdered were 29.
In 1834, Robert Pashley, an English traveler, visited the Venetian fortress and said that all he found were ruins and a deserted place.
There was only a warehouse where they kept the wheat brought from Chania. That wheat served the needs of Selino and Sfakia residents. During his visit on 27/04/1834, Robert Pashley noticed the ruins of an ancient city and said: ‘We left Selino Kasteli at about 9:15am and crossed a river located half a mile on the east. The ground along the river is full of broken ceramics, which indicate the existence of an ancient city.’
We also know that Paleohora residents found various coins while they were cultivating the land in the same area. Traveller de Feure Paul claims that Paleohora is built on the ancient ruins of Kalamidi city and that is how it acquired its name (paleo=old, hora=land). Plivios referred to 40 ancient cities in Crete and we are not sure yet which one this is.
There are many theories about this matter.
First theory: An unknown traveler in Crete claims in his book ‘Stadiasmoi’ that the ancient city of Kalamidi was on the west of Lissos and about 6 kilometres far from ‘Kriou Metopon’ and the mouth of Strados river today called Vlithianos.
Pashley is more specific and these are his exact words: ‘If we accepted that this was an ancient location, we could assume that Kalamidi was built here’.
Second theory: All these broken ceramics, the coins and the skeletons which were found about 500m on the northwest of Paleohora might belong to the residents of an old Venetian village (borgo) situated outside the fortress.
Studying the local history, we conclude that the exact location of ancient Kalamidi is disputable. Some claim that it is on the north of Agia Triada village in the area of Fournaki where carved graves and ancient walls have been found within a walking distance. However, if we examine the area carefully we will find out that the morphology of the ground, which makes it difficult to cultivate, as well as the lack of water in the area wouldn’t allow a city to be built there.
An elderly resident assured us that in the past that area was waterless and while he was cultivating his land he came across the remains of an old aqueduct at a quite low altitude. This shows us that people had tried to bring water to the area where the ancient city was once situated.
What is most believed is the theory of historians and travelers (Faure Paul, Dapper and Pashley) who said that Kalamidi was situated by the sea on the northwest of Paleohora near a flat riverside area. That is why we assume that ancient Kalamidi was once the harbour of Kantanos just as ancient Suia (Sougia) was the harbour of Eliros.
All the above verify the fact that Selino Kasteli was not an ancient city. The name Paleohora was given to the area in 1881 by its first residents because there was an old city very close to it.
Rarely can someone find such a mild climate and beautiful beaches. All year round weather conditions are superb. It’s always so warm that people are almost unaware of the word ‘cold’. It’s an ideal place to stay, not only in summer but in winter, too.
From May till October the weather is warm and the temperature is higher than it is in the countries of Northern Europe in July and August.
Winter is also mild and pleasant. There is an annual average rainfall of about 400 to 450 mm. The average temperature is 19.5°C. The maximum is 41.5°C and the minimum is 6-7°C.
More specifically, the average temperature is: 14.5°C in January, 13°C in February, 14°C in March, 17°C in April, 19°C in May, 23°C in June, 26.5°C in July, 27°C in August, 24.6°C in September, 21°C in October, 18.5°C in November and 19°C in December.
The average temperature of Paleohora is a bit higher than that of the French Riviera which is the most touristically developed area of the Mediterranean Sea.
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