Crete Hotels

Hotels in Crete are often required for tourists who want to see the culture, history, tourist attractions and sport of island of Crete. Some tourists may want to see the towns or rural regions. Many tourists may want to stay at a luxury hotels or cheap hotels. Some may want to stay at a hotels that have good reputation and good access to parking and to entertainment.

Hotels in Crete are often required for tourists who want to see the culture, history, sports and tourists attractions of the famous island. Some may want to stay at hotels that have good reputation.

Crete is one of the 13 regions into which Greece is divided. It forms the largest island in Greece and the second largest (after Cyprus) in the East Mediterranean. The island has an elongated shape : it spans 260 km from east to west and 60 km at its widest, although the island is narrower at certain points, such as in the region close to Ierapetra , where it reaches a width of only 12 km. Crete covers an area of 8,336 km², with a coastline of 1046 km ; to the north it broaches the Sea of Crete ; to the south the Libyan Sea in the west the Myrtoan Sea, and toward the east the Karpathion Sea. It lies approximately 160 km south of the Greek mainland.

Crete is one of the most popular holiday destinations in Greece.

For centuries Crete has held intact its own distinctive rich and proud culture. Cretan Greek has been maintained as the spoken dialect, and Cretan wine is a traditional drink. The island is known for its music, and it has many indigenous dances, the most noted of which is probably the Pentozali.

Crete is extremely mountainous, and its character is defined by a high mountain range crossing from West to East, formed by three different groups of mountains. These are:

the White Mountains or Lefka Ori (2,452 m);
the Idi range (Psiloritis;
the Dikti mountains (2,148 m);
Kedros (1,777 m);
Thripti (1,489 m)

These mountains gifted Crete with fertile plateaus, such as Lasithi, Omalos and Nidha; caves, such as Diktaion and Idaion; and gorges, such as the famous Gorge of Samaria. The protected area of the Samaria Gorge is the home of kri-kri, while Cretan mountains and gorges are refuges for the endangered vulture Lammergeier (Gypaetus barbatus).

There are a number of rivers on Crete, including the Ieropotamos River on the southern part of the island.

Crete is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea at 8,336 km² (3,219 square miles).

Crete was the center of the Minoan civilization (ca. 2600–1400 BC), the oldest Greek and European civilization.

Today Crete is one of the thirteen peripheries of Greece and a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece. While it keeps its own local cultural traits (e.g. its own music and dialect), Cretans openly identify themselves as Greeks.

For centuries the island was known by its Italian name Candia, from the medieval name of its capital Heraklion, Chandax (Greek: ?????? or ????????, "moat", Turkish: Kandiye). In Classical Latin it was called Creta and in Turkish Girit.

Crete is the location of significant ancient history, which provides popular modern day tourist destinations. They include the Minoan sites of Knossos and Phaistos, the classical site of Gortys, the Venetian old city and port of Chania, the Venetian castle at Rethymno, and the Samaria Gorge.

Crete was part of the Byzantine empire, but then was captured by Iberian Muslims led by Abo Hafs Omer Al-Baloty [2] who established an emirate on the island. In 960 Nicephorus Phocas reconquered the island and held it under Byzantine control until 1204, when it fell into the hands of the Venetians at the time of the Fourth Crusade. During Venice's rule, which was more than four centuries long, a Renaissance swept through the island as is evident from the plethora of artistic works dating to that period. The most notable fruits of the Cretan renaissance were El Greco and Vitsentzos Kornaros. In 1669, after a 21-year siege, Candia fell to the Ottoman empire.

During the Ottoman rule, many churches and monasteries were converted to mosques. However, freedoms and rights were still provided. Church attendance was permitted. Still, many Christians converted to Islam through intermarriage with Muslims. The Islamic law permitted the marriage of a Muslim man to a Christian women, but not the reverse. Through these processes, the population of Christians declined. The city was surrounded by high walls and bastions and extended westward and southward by the 17th century. The most opulent area of the city was the Northeastern quadrant where all the elite were gathered together. The city had received another name under the rule of the Ottomans, the deserted city. The urban policy that the Ottoman applied to Candia was a two-pronged approach.[7] The first was the religious endowments. It made the Ottoman elite contribute to building and rehabilitating the ruined city. The other method was to boost the population and the urban revenue by selling off urban properties.

Uprisings by Christians were met with a fierce response from the Ottoman authorities who several times executed bishops, regarded as ringleaders. Crete was left out of the modern Greek state by the London Protocol of 1830, and soon it was yielded to Egypt by the Ottoman sultan. Egyptian rule was short-lived and sovereignty was returned to the Ottoman Empire by the Convention of London on July 3, 1840.
Greece and Crete

Between 1833 and 1897, several more Christian uprisings took place, and in 1898, Crete, a complex autonomous Cretan State under Ottoman suzerainty, was nevertheless garrisoned by an international military force, and with a High Commissioner (Armostis) chosen by Greece. During these years Cretan volunteers played an important role in the Greek struggle for Macedonia and in the Balkan wars. Finally, in the aftermath of the Balkan wars Crete joined Greece on 1 December 1913.

During World War II, the island was the scene of the famous Battle of Crete where in May 1941, German paratroopers, meeting fierce resistance by the locals and the British Commonwealth force, commanded by General Sir Bernard Freyberg, sustained almost 7,000 casualties. As a result, Adolf Hitler forbid further large scale airborne operations there during the war.

Heraklion or Iraklion is the largest city and capital of Crete. It is also the fourth largest city in Greece. For centuries it was known as Candia, a Venetian adaptation of an earlier Greek name which in turn came from the Arabic rabd. al-h(andaq. Under the Ottoman Empire, it was called Kandiye.

Settelements in Crete ; Agia Eirini, Chania, Agia Roumeli, Agia Varvara, Heraklion, Agioi, Apostoli, Agios Nikolaos, Agriles, Aktounta, Alikianos, Almirida, Archanes, Argastiri, Argyroupoli (Rethymno), Arkalochori, Armeni, Asi Gonia, Athanatos Gonias, Atsipades, Chania, Drapanias, Drapanos, Epanochori, Chania, Episkopi, Heraklion, Fournofarago, Fres, Galipe, Gavalohori, Gazi, Georgioupoli, Gorgolainis, Gouves, Harakas, Heraklion, Hersonissos, Hora Sfakion, Ierapetra, Kalives, Kalo Horio, Kalorouma, Kamaria, Kampanos, Kampia, Chania, Kandanos, Karydi, Itanos, Kasteli, Kato Asites, Kefalas, Kofinas, Kokkino Horio, Kolymvari, Kournas, Koustogerako, Koxari, Kritsa, Krousonas, Lentas, Limnes Lasithi, Litsarda, Livada, Livadas, Loutro, Chania, Makrygialos, Maleme, Malia (municipality), Maralia, Maza, Miamou, Moires, Moni, Nea Alikarnassos, Palaiochora, Palekastro, Paleloni, Paliani, Papadiana, Pera Skafi, Phalasarna, Plaka, Plakias, Platanias, Prines, Rodovani, Rouvas, Seliniotikos Gyros, Sellia, Chania, Sitia, Skafi, Smari, Smari Iraklion, Souda, Sougia, Stalis, Stalos, Stilos, Strati, Sykologos, Temenia, Theriso, Thrapsano, Tsiskiana, Tympaki, Vamos, Viannos, Voukolies, Xerosterni, Zaros

Crete Hotels

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