Crete is to be loved for many reasons. The enormous morphological contrasts and the prevailing weather conditions have created unique landscapes, with every trip to the island being unique. Emerald beaches, rocky mountain peaks, steep slopes, alpine bands. Lush mountains, deep gorges, gurgling rivers. Small lakes, Mediterranean forests, wetlands, fertile meadows, fertile vineyards and olive groves, a rich seabed. An island that has everything.
In such an environment, the development of exceptional endemic herbs and wild herbs combined with mild livestock and its by-products have shaped eating habits that have established the reputation of Cretan diet as the healthiest in the Mediterranean. Famous Cretan products are olive oil and olives, plenty of dairy products, a variety of greens and fruits, meat and especially lamb and goat, unique cold meats, honey, loved tsikoudia or raki, fish, chokes, Cretan wine and, of course, bread and nuts, which are an important part of Cretan culture.
An important role in nutrition, and not only, has been played by religion and fasting. Crete was the cradle of Orthodoxy and this is testified by the monastic communities that exist scattered on the island. Throughout Crete there are churches with wonderful frescoes that express the evolution and trends of religious art from the first Byzantine years to the School of Cretan Painting. With the transition from the worship of the Roman gods to Christianity, we find many cults and the Minoan Summit to become Christian churches. On the occasion of the Feast of Saints, many local festivals are organized, where, along with their religious and pilgrimage significance, they are the occasion to bring together the local population and help preserve the customs and traditions of the place.
Crete is an ideal destination for all seasons. One can walk in nature, climb the high mountains of the island or engage in winter sports on snowy slopes, gaze at the deep blue of the Cretan and Libyan peaks, cross the canyons by walking or canoe, observe migratory birds in many seasonal wetlands. Forest areas, at any given time, attract a large number of visitors, where one can also come in contact with the traditional way of life, choosing to stay in one of the hiking in the hinterland.
The multicultural and distant past of Crete is reflected in all aspects of contemporary Cretan, such as language, dance, music, nutrition, arts and craftsmanship. The island has a long and rich musical tradition, influenced by Byzantine music but also by the musical culture of the eastern Mediterranean. The mantinades reflect the feelings, the thought of the Cretan people and express the grievance, the love, the attitude towards life and every feeling that stems from the sensitive Cretan soul. The Cretan dances, sometimes fast and slow, always powerful and imposing, refer to the Courites' dances.
Traditional professions remain alive on the island, such as potters, such as the Minoans for thousands of years, carpenters, who give the mulberry tree the shape of lyre and lute and continue the development of traditional musical instruments, crackers who take care of the Cretan leather crepes , traditionally durable Cretan shoes, cutlery, which convert steel to the famous Cretan knife. Women's cooperatives still weave on embroidery embroidery, which are mentioned in the years of Minoos, where among them the singer, the scarf, the fringes that look like tears, symbolize the sorrow and the lament for the slavery that Crete lived with black to be worn as a sign of mourning for the anxieties passed by the ancestors and white as a sign of joy at weddings, feasts, births and baptisms.
Finally, one can not mention the emerald beaches, from one side of the island to the other, with tropical waters, hidden beaches, lagoons, palm trees, the pine-trees of the eastern side of the island, the organized beaches of the northern coastline, all that contribute to the ultimate combination of unforgettable holidays and natural beauty.