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Plaka (Lasithi)
Plaka is a village in Lasithi, Crete. It is part of the community Vrouchas, in the municipal unit Agios Nikolaos. It neighbours the town of Elounda and is close to the historical island of Spinalonga. In the vicinity are the ancient cities (now in ruins) of Olous and Lato, which Dorian settlements were frequently in conflict with each other over territory disputes. Tourist boats depart from Plaka to Spinalonga on a daily basis. The one way boat passage requires approximately ten minutes. The village features prominently in the novel '' The Island'' by Victoria Hislop and its TV adaptation To Nisi ''To Nisi'' (Greek: ''Το Νησί''; English: ''The Island'') is a Greek television series based on the best-selling English novel '' The Island'' by Victoria Hislop airing on Mega Channel. The series premiered on 11 October 2010 to record rati .... Populated places in Lasithi {{Crete-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plaka (Lassithi)
Plaka is a village in Lasithi, Crete. It is part of the community Vrouchas, in the municipal unit Agios Nikolaos. It neighbours the town of Elounda and is close to the historical island of Spinalonga. In the vicinity are the ancient cities (now in ruins) of Olous and Lato, which Dorian settlements were frequently in conflict with each other over territory disputes. Tourist boats depart from Plaka to Spinalonga on a daily basis. The one way boat passage requires approximately ten minutes. The village features prominently in the novel '' The Island'' by Victoria Hislop and its TV adaptation To Nisi ''To Nisi'' (Greek: ''Το Νησί''; English: ''The Island'') is a Greek television series based on the best-selling English novel '' The Island'' by Victoria Hislop airing on Mega Channel. The series premiered on 11 October 2010 to record ratin .... Populated places in Lasithi {{Crete-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lasithi
Lasithi ( el, Λασίθι) is the easternmost regional unit on the island of Crete, to the east of Heraklion. Its capital is Agios Nikolaos, the other major towns being Ierapetra and Sitia. The mountains include the Dikti in the west and the Thrypti in the east. The Sea of Crete lies to the north and the Libyan Sea to the south. To the east of the village of Elounda lies the island of Spinalonga, formerly a Venetian fortress and a leper colony. On the foot of Mount Dikti lies the Lasithi Plateau, famous for its windmills. Vai is well known for its datepalm forest. Thanks to its beaches and its mild climate year-long, Lasithi attracts many tourists. Mass tourism is served by places like Vai, Agios Nikolaos and the island of Chrissi. More off-beat tourism can be found in villages on the south coast like Myrtos, Makrys Gialos or Makrigialos, Xerokambos and Koutsouras. Lasithi is home to a number of ancient remains. Vasiliki, Fournou Korifi, Pyrgos, Zakros and Gournia are ruin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crete
Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and Corsica. Crete rests about south of the Greek mainland, and about southwest of Anatolia. Crete has an area of and a coastline of 1,046 km (650 mi). It bounds the southern border of the Aegean Sea, with the Sea of Crete (or North Cretan Sea) to the north and the Libyan Sea (or South Cretan Sea) to the south. Crete and a number of islands and islets that surround it constitute the Region of Crete ( el, Περιφέρεια Κρήτης, links=no), which is the southernmost of the 13 top-level administrative units of Greece, and the fifth most populous of Greece's regions. Its capital and largest city is Heraklion, on the north shore of the island. , the region had a population of 636,504. The Dodecanese are located to the no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agios Nikolaos, Crete
Agios Nikolaos, Hagios Nikolaos or Aghios Nikolaos ( el, Άγιος Νικόλαος ) is a coastal town on the Greek island of Crete, lying east of the island's capital Heraklion, north of the town of Ierapetra and west of the town of Sitia. In the year 2011, the Municipality of Agios Nikolaos, which takes in part of the surrounding villages, claimed 27,074 inhabitants. The town is a municipality of the Crete region and sits partially upon the ruins of the ancient city of Lato pros Kamara. History Agios Nikolaos was settled in the late Bronze Age by Dorian occupants of Lato, at a time when the security of the Lato hillfort became a lesser concern and easy access to the harbour at Agios Nikolaos became more important. The name Agios Nikolaos means ''Saint Nicholas''. Its stress lies on the second syllable of the word "Nikolaos". ''Agios Nikolaos'' or ''Ayios Nikolaos'' (alternative romanizations of the Greek ) is a common placename in Greece and Cyprus, since Saint Nicholas is t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elounda
Elounda ( el, Ελούντα, Elúnda), alternatively transliterated as Elounta or Elouda, is a small town on the northern coast of the island of Crete, Greece. It is part of the municipality of Agios Nikolaos. Settlement structure Elounda is formed of seven villages and an uninhabited island area. The village of Schisma is by far the most populated one and is often understood as 'Elounda Centre'. The community of Elounda has a total of 2,193 inhabitants according to the 2011 census. The areas making up the community are (at least since the re-organisation of 2011-01-01) with Greek names and head count: * Agia Paraskevi – Ἁγία Παρασκευή – 23 * Epano Elounda – Ἐπάνω Ἐλοῦντα – 115 * Epano Pine – Ἐπάνω Πιναί – 35 * Kalydon – Καλυδών (uninhabited island area) * Kato Elounda – Κάτω Ἐλοῦντα – 86 * Kato Pine – Κάτω Πιναί – 62 * Mavrikianon – Μαυρικιανόν – 142 * Schisma – Σχίσ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spinalonga
Spinalonga ( el, Σπιναλόγκα) is an island located in the Gulf of Elounda in north-eastern Crete, in Lasithi, next to the town of Plaka. The island is further assigned to the area of Kalydon. It is near the Spinalonga peninsula ("large Spinalonga") – which often causes confusion as the same name is used for both. During Venetian rule, salt was harvested from salt pans around the island. The island has also been used as a leper colony. Spinalonga has appeared in novels, television series, and a short film. Origin of the name According to Venetian documents, the name of the island originated in the Greek expression στην Ελούντα ''stin Elounda'' (meaning "to Elounda"). The Venetians could not understand the expression, so they familiarized it using their own language, and called it ''spina'' "thorn" ''longa'' "long", an expression that was also maintained by the locals. The Venetians were inspired for this expression by the name of an island near Venice c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruins
Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate destruction by humans, or uncontrollable destruction by natural phenomena. The most common root causes that yield ruins in their wake are natural disasters, armed conflict, and population decline, with many structures becoming progressively derelict over time due to long-term weathering and scavenging. There are famous ruins all over the world, with notable sites originating from ancient China, the Indus Valley and other regions of ancient India, ancient Iran, ancient Israel and Judea, ancient Iraq, ancient Greece, ancient Egypt, Roman sites throughout the Mediterranean Basin, and Incan and Mayan sites in the Americas. Ruins are of great importance to historians, archaeologists and anthropologists, whether they were once individual f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olous
Olous or Olus ( grc, Ὄλους, or ''Stadiasmus Maris Magni'' § 350.) was a city of ancient Crete; now sunken, it was situated at the present day town of Elounda, Crete, Greece. According to the ''Stadiasmus Maris Magni'', it had a harbour and was located 260 stadia from Chersonasus and 15 stadia from Camara. History After continuing boundary disputes with the hillfort of Lato, the citizens of Olous eventually entered into a treaty with those of Lato. There was a temple to Britomartis in the city, a wooden statue of whom was erected by Daedalus, the mythical ancestor of the Daedalidae, and father of Cretan art. Her effigy is represented on the coins of Olous. Present conditions Archaeologists discovered ancient texts within the ruins linking the town with the ancient cities of Knossos and the island of Rhodes. - treaty between Rhodes and Olous. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lato
Lato ( grc, Λατώ, Latṓ) was an ancient city of Crete, the ruins of which are located approximately 3 km from the village of Kritsa. History The Dorian city-state was built in a defensible position overlooking Mirabello Bay between two peaks, both of which became acropolises to the city. Although the city probably predates the arrival of the Dorians, the ruins date mainly from the Dorian period (5th and 4th centuries BCE). The city was destroyed c. 200 BCE, but its port (Lato Etera or Lato pros Kamara), located near Agios Nikolaos was in use during Roman rule. This has led to the confusion, repeated by Stephanus of Byzantium quoting Xenion, a Cretan historian, that Kamara and Lato were one and the same. Modern scholarship distinguishes the two. The city most likely was named after the goddess Leto (of which Lato is the usual Doric form) and may be mentioned in Linear B tablets as RA-TO. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dorians
The Dorians (; el, Δωριεῖς, ''Dōrieîs'', singular , ''Dōrieús'') were one of the four major ethnic groups into which the Hellenes (or Greeks) of Classical Greece divided themselves (along with the Aeolians, Achaeans, and Ionians). They are almost always referred to as just "the Dorians", as they are called in the earliest literary mention of them in the ''Odyssey'', where they already can be found inhabiting the island of Crete. They were diverse in way of life and social organization, varying from the populous trade center of the city of Corinth, known for its ornate style in art and architecture, to the isolationist, military state of Sparta. And yet, all Hellenes knew which localities were Dorian, and which were not. Dorian states at war could more likely, but not always, count on the assistance of other Dorian states. Dorians were distinguished by the Doric Greek dialect and by characteristic social and historical traditions. In the 5th century BC, Dorians an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Island (Hislop Novel)
''The Island'' is a historical novel written by Victoria Hislop. It won several awards including Newcomer of the Year at the 2007 British Book Awards. The book was nominated for the Book of the Year award at the same event. Plot The novel is set on the island of Spinalonga, off the coast of Crete, and on the village of Plaka which lies within swimming distance across the bay from it. ''The Island'' tells the story of Alexis Fielding, a 25-year-old on the cusp of a life-changing decision. Alexis knows little or nothing about her family's past and has always resented her mother for refusing to discuss it. She knows only that her mother, Sofia, grew up in Plaka, a small Cretan village, before moving to London. Making her first visit to Crete to see the village where her mother was born, Alexis discovers that the village of Plaka faces the small, now deserted island of Spinalonga. Alexis is shocked and surprised to learn the deserted island was Greece's leper colony for much of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
