Greece

Greece: Crete

When

April to June | Sept to Oct

Price

From 2 000€ excl. flights

(based on 2 people sharing)

How long

5 nights

Ideal length

1 / 7

Crete, Greece's largest island, was the cradle of the Minoan civilisation, considered Europe's first advanced civilisation, whose Knossos palace, with its colourful frescoes and maze of rooms that inspired the myth of the Minotaur's labyrinth, bears witness to an architectural refinement over three thousand five hundred years old. The island is also home to the Samaria Gorge, Europe's longest gorge at sixteen kilometres, carved into the White Mountains and walked in a full day down to the Libyan Sea.

Knossos and the Minoan Civilisation

The palace of Knossos, whose foundations date back over three thousand five hundred years, was the political and religious centre of the Minoan civilisation, considered Europe's first advanced civilisation, whose artistic refinement can still be read in colourful frescoes depicting scenes of acrobats leaping over bulls. The palace's complex maze of rooms and corridors, rediscovered by British archaeologist Arthur Evans in the early 20th century, inspired the Greek myth of the Minotaur's labyrinth, a half-man, half-bull monster said by legend to be confined beneath the palace's very foundations.

Samaria Gorge, Europe's Longest

Samaria Gorge, stretching sixteen kilometres through the heart of the White Mountains National Park, ranks among the longest in Europe and is traditionally walked in a full day, from a high plateau down to the small isolated beach of Agia Roumeli on the Libyan Sea. The canyon's narrowest point, nicknamed the Iron Gates, closes to just three metres wide between rock walls rising over three hundred metres, a passage sheltering the Cretan ibex, a protected endemic subspecies.

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