Visiting villages in Crete Greece

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Visiting villages in Crete Greece: The village of Astraki today has 228 inhabitants, mainly engaged in agriculture. Documents in 1278 mentioned Astraki as Astracu and more specifically in 1583 as Astracus Catto with 230 inhabitants. The name of the village comes from the many potsherds found here, called ostrakon. As papyrus was too expensive for everyday use, people used mainly ostraka for short everyday writing activities.

There were two parts of the village: Epano Astraki (above) and Kato Astraki (below). Nowadays nobody lives in Kato Astraki anymore and it basically consists only of ruins. The Turks built this settlement and it was abandoned in the early 1900s after the Turkish occupation was defeated. After that, nobody inhabited the houses ever again.

The village of Astraki

At the highest point of Kato Astraki stands the ruins of the 12th-century Byzantine church Agios Georgios Vourvoulitis. Next to the church is a spring with holy water of Agios Georgios (Saint George), which farmers now use for irrigation of surrounding land. This church used to be richly decorated with a golden bell and it had golden chalices. The Cretans buried all the gold in the area just before the Turkish occupation took over the area.

The church of Panagia (Our Lady) in the lower part of Kato Astraki is a single-nave 16th-century church that bears traces of frescoes. This church is still intact and can also be visited. On the west side, there is a coat of arms with four roses, a double-headed eagle and the date 1555. Inside the church is a sarcophagus with a family crest on it.

Below the village is the cave Neraidospilios, there is a spring with plenty of water. They use the water for the city of Heraklion. Legend has it that the cave is home to the fairies. This also explains the name of the cave: Neraido (fairy) spilios (cave).

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Walk the E4 trail with Zorbas Island. 3 times a year we organise a 4-day walking week on the E4.
On Crete there are about 8000 shepherds with goats and sheep. The milk is used for cheese like Cretan white cheese, graviera and kefalotyri.
Zorbas Island offers possibilities for individual hikes or group hikes. There is a great variety of walks on Crete: walking tours through Greek villages, impressive mountain and gorge hikes on Crete or walking through the olive groves and fields on Crete
Crete is an excellent destination for watersports, offering a wide range of activities for all skill levels along its extensive, crystal-clear coastline. Popular options include windsurfing in the east (Kouremenos), scuba diving, SUP (Stand-Up Paddle), sea kayaking, and jet skiing. But also snorkeling and sailing are good options
Visit old handcrafts on Crete, such as a pottery. During an Unknown Crete excursion with Zorbas Island, we show you some old crafts.
At Zorbas we organise cooking workshops; cooking with 100% biologic olive oil, from our own trees. Cook traditional greek dishes among the olive trees where the olives for the oil came from.

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Zorbas Island 2026 Crete Greece Newsletter: your holiday in Crete in 2026 – The new Zorbas Island programme: dear holidaymaker, we are delighted to present the first details of our brand new programme for 2026! At Zorbas Island, everything revolves around an unforgettable holiday on beautiful Crete.

Holiday Crete 2026 agenda – Agenda Zorbas Island, Crete – Season 2026: our new agenda is ready with the excursions for 2026, including many new excursions. You are probably curious about the activities we will be organising at Zorbas in the coming year, and this agenda provides an overview of all the activities that will interest you.

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