A winding mountain road lifts you out of the summer heat and onto the Lasithi Plateau, a wide green valley ringed by peaks and dotted with old windmills. Here, according to myth, Zeus was born in the Dikteon Cave, a dramatic cavern of stalactites you can explore on foot. We stop in traditional villages along the way for local honey, raki and a taste of mountain cooking.
Highlights
- The Dikteon Cave of Zeus
- Windmills of the plateau
- Honey and raki in a mountain village
A little history
At around 850 metres, the plateau was so fertile that the Venetians once banned farming here to keep rebels away. In the 20th century thousands of white-sailed windmills pumped water for its fields. In the Dikteon Cave above Psychro, myth says Rhea hid the newborn Zeus from his father Kronos.