Continued...

The island is very mountainous. Deep gorges split its huge mountains (Lefka, Ori, Psiloritis, Dikti) leading to fertile valleys, creating a landscape full of surprises and which changes minute by minute, bare and wild, green and peaceful. More than 3,000 large and small caves, several of them with impressive stalactites and stalagmites, are of special interest and honeycomb the mountains.

Untrodden rocky coasts, vast sandy beaches and pebble shores define the seaside. Dry-stone farm buildings, villages perching on high plateaus, monasteries, isolated castles and chapels dot the countryside. Villages drowning in green, olive green, vine green, citrus green and vegetable green, add living colour to the sometimes harsh views, in which life's traditional Cretan rhythms have not changed in centuries: coffee under the shade of old trees, traditional dances, sousta and pentozali to the sound of the Cretan lyre and the sweetness of Cretan wine.