Minos Hotel Agia galini Crete
Minos hotel The Minos hotel was built in 1975. And therefore it is one of the first hotels in the
avg/night€60,00
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The village of Agia Galini (Αγια Γαλήνη meaning Holy Peace), has great scenery. Be impressed by the high cliffs, colourful Bougainville steps covered with flowers (sometimes very steep up- hill) and the Platis River flowing to sea with a backdrop of the snow-covered Idi Mountains. It is a charming fisherman’s village that also used to have a thriving timber and olive-oil trade with a soap factory until it changed to mainly tourism in the seventies of the last century. The houses are built amphitheatrically on the surrounding hills, overlooking the harbour. The seawater plays magically with the rays of the sun in several caves along the coast…
Agia Galini is a very family friendly place; apart from one main road the entire village is free of cars. The main road is not a thoroughfare; it leads only to the harbour. Besides lots of good restaurants and plenty of cosy bars with terraces, Agia Galini has all amenities like souvenir shops, clothing stores, jewellery shops, supermarkets, fruit and vegetables shops, two bakeries, a pastry shop, a laundry, a hairdresser, two masseurs, a fishmonger, a butcher, three car rental companies, a tour organization and two ATM machines to withdraw cash.
Every summer season on National Holidays, “The Cultural Association of Agia Galini” organises several events in the harbour, like “The Fishermen’s feast” in June, “Folklore dancing with traditional Lyra music” in July and the grand “Popular Greek Music” concerts round the second week of August.
In ancient Minoan times (circa 3650 BCE — circa 1,450 BCE) the village used to be a city called Soulia or Soulina, which was the port of ancient Syvritos. It had a temple dedicated to Artemis. In 441 AD the Byzantine Empress Eudocia built a church on the ruins of this temple. Around 640 AD, Saracens (Arab) ‘pirates’ destroyed the city. In the fifteenth century a new church was build to become part of a monastery named Galini Christos, which was visited by the Italian monk Buondelmonti in 1415. Two granite columns, remnants of these ancient times are kept inside the local church in the centre of the village. Rumour has it that the harbours flourished again during the Venetian period but no records have survived that actually substantiate this. Nevertheless, there is a characteristic white house in the Venetian style at the top of the village…
The myth of Daedalos & Ikaros
Daedalos was the architect of King Minos, he built the palace of Knossós, a labyrinth where he housed Minos son The Minotaur, a monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man that slaughtered fourteen young Athenians every seven years. Theseus of Athens came to Crete to kill The Minotaur, hoping to put an end to the "human tribute” that his city was forced to pay Minos, King of Crete. Ariadne, King Minos’ daughter came across Theseus and fell in love with him. She asked Daedalos to help and save the brave man. Daedalos gave the advice to tie a thread of wool to the beginning of the Labyrinth so Theseus could find his way back. Theseus killed the Minotaur, found his way out of the Labyrinth and together with Ariadne; they fled the Island of Crete.
King Minos found out who had helped them escape. He imprisoned Daedalos and his son Ikaros in a cave in Soulia. But Daedalos had a brilliant idea; he built wings of feathers and wax. They escaped from the Island flying with these wings. But before the two set off he warned his son Ikaros not to fly too low, the moisture of the sea would dampen his wings and make it hard to fly, and not too high, the sun would melt the wax of his wings. But the young Ikaros, overwhelmed by the thrill of flying, did not heed his father's warning, and flew higher and higher, closer to the sun… the wax in his wings melted and he fell into the sea and drowned. Daedalus lamented his dead son and then continued to Sicily, where he came to stay at the court of Cocalus in a place called Camicus. Icarus' body was carried ashore by the current to an island without a name. Heracles came across the body and recognised him and buried the body, where today a small rock promontory jutting out into the Aegean Sea still stands. The island Ikaria and the sea around it were named after the fallen Ikaros.
The myth of their captivity and flight have been linked to the rock on the outer west part of the harbour hill of Agia Galini. In the nineties plans have been made to construct a park with a theatre dedicated to Daedalos & Ikaros. In 2004 their statue was placed and in 2013 the theatre was opened.
© Robert de Booij