Rethymno Day Trip

A Rethymno day trip is a one-day outing in Rethymno, the Cretan city between Heraklion and Chania, or in the hills and villages around it. It is one of the Greece tours that join Venetian streets, mountain villages and old caves.

What is a Rethymno day trip?

A Rethymno day trip is a visit to Rethymno that starts and finishes within a single day. The town still keeps the old aristocratic appearance it had in the past. Aristocratic means linked to noble families, the old upper class.

Rethymno has more than one name. In Greek, it is written Ρέθυμνο, using the letters of the Greek alphabet. The Latin name is Civitas Rethymnæ. Rethymno was formerly also known as Rettimo or Retimno. A Rethymno day trip can start with these other names, since each one points to the same town.

Scholars have proposed that a city called Arsinoe stood on the same site as Rethymno. That idea comes from researchers and is not a settled fact. It adds one more open question to the story of the town. A Rethymno day trip can open with the early history of this site.

In 1551, the Latin diocese of Retimo was renamed Retimo–Ario after it absorbed the Diocese of Ario. A diocese is a church district led by a bishop. A bishop is the head of the local churches in it. To absorb means to take in, so the Ario district joined the Retimo district.

• Literature: Georgios Chortatzis (1545–1610) wrote plays in Cretan verse and is a notable local of Rethymno.
• Cards: Nick Dandolos (1883–1966), a professional poker player, is another notable local of Rethymno.
• Art: Rethymno has a municipal gallery, meaning a town gallery, named after L. Kanakakis.

Rethymno is also a town of study and farming. At Galos, about 8,000 students attend the University of Crete campus located in the town of Rethymno. Agriculture is notable around Rethymno, especially its olive oil. Both shape the town behind every Rethymno day trip.

What does the Rimondi Fountain add to a Rethymno day trip?

A Rethymno day trip gains a Venetian fountain on Rimondi Square in Rethymno, on the island of Crete. Venetian here refers to Venice, which sits in Italy. The fountain was built around 1626, so the monument has stood there for a long time.

The fountain takes its name from Alvise Rimondi, who was then governor of the town. Such a governor runs a town on behalf of a ruling power. The name links a Rethymno day trip to a real person. The coat of arms of the Rimondi family is still visible on the monument.

The main side has four fluted half-columns that separate three lion heads spouting water. Fluted means carved with long upright grooves along the column. A half-column is a pillar set into a wall. A Corinthian capital, which is the carved head of a column, tops each half-column. It is made from soft Alfas limestone.

The middle section holds a semicircular niche, a half-round hollow cut into a wall. A crown, the emblem of Rimondi, sits above it. An emblem is a sign that stands for a person or family. The crown ties the niche to the Rimondi name, a link a Rethymno day trip can follow.

• Style: The design recalls a Roman facade, meaning the front of a building, and shows Renaissance influence.
• Builders: The heavy proportions suggest a Cretan workshop built it, not an Italian artist.
• Troughs: Three troughs, which are water basins, are thought to be for watering animals.

In Ottoman times the Rimondi Fountain became known as the Great Fountain. Ottoman times were the years when the Ottoman state held power in the town. The later name adds a second period of history to a Rethymno day trip.

What does the Kara Musa Pasha Mosque add to a Rethymno day trip?

A Rethymno day trip gains a stop at the Kara Musa Pasha Mosque. It was built in the 1680s, during the Ottoman era. The word Ottoman points to the empire of that name, which ruled Crete at that time.

The mosque stands on Arkadiou street in the town of Rethymno. It rose on the site of a Venetian monastery dedicated to Saint Barbara. Venetian describes something tied to Venice, a city in Italy. A monastery houses monks, who live together as a group of men and spend their days in prayer.

Ottoman builders added a dome and a minaret to the converted monastery. A dome is a rounded roof. A minaret is a slim tower attached to a mosque, used to call people to prayer. For a Rethymno day trip, one detail stands out: only the base of the minaret survives today.

A domed fountain has one side on Arkadiou Street and the other on the courtyard. Domed means topped with a rounded roof. A fountain is a structure that supplies water. A courtyard is an open yard beside a building. A Rethymno day trip can note this two-sided fountain as a feature of the site.

• Restoration: The Greek Archaeological Service, a public body for archaeology, has restored the mosque.
• Museum plan: The building is being considered as a museum about Ottoman building design in Crete.
• Founder’s tomb: The founder, Kara Musa Pasha, is thought to be buried in an arched-roof tomb in the mosque grounds.

The mosque was abandoned during the 1890s. Abandoned means that people left the building empty and stopped using it as a place of prayer. That chapter of its story gives a Rethymno day trip a fuller picture of the mosque.

What does the Old Town bring to a Rethymno day trip?

A Rethymno day trip adds the old mosques to the story of the Old Town. Muslims use a mosque as their place for prayer and worship. The Neradje, Veli Pasha and Valide Sultan mosques are three of them. Each has a history of its own.

The Neradje Mosque has a name that comes from a fruit. Neradje literally means bitter orange mosque. The building began as Santa Maria, a monastery of the Catholic Augustinian Order, a religious community. Monks live and pray together in a monastery, which serves as their home. The name and the monastery past share one building.

Engineer Georgios Daskalakis built the Neradje minaret in 1890. The tall, slim tower standing beside a mosque is called a minaret. In 1924 the mosque was abandoned and then turned into a music school. Such changes show why a Rethymno day trip in the Old Town works as a history lesson.

The Veli Pasha Mosque adds another layer to a Rethymno day trip in the Old Town. Its minaret dates to 1789 or 1790. It is the oldest surviving minaret in Rethymno. Since 2008, the building has housed the Paleontological Museum of Rethymno. Paleontology is the study of fossils, the remains of ancient life.

• Neradje minaret: The tower has two balconies and is the tallest structure in Rethymno town.
• Veli Pasha: Six small domes, or round roofs, top the mosque, and its porch has three larger ones.
• Valide Sultan: Two upside-down column tops serve as bases for columns beside the mihrab, a prayer niche.

The Neradje Mosque is rectangular and has three half-round domes. The Valide Sultan minaret is cylindrical, meaning round like a tube, and ends in a pyramid-like tip. Together, these mosques give a Rethymno day trip a clear record of change in the Old Town.

What does Plakias add to a Rethymno day trip?

A Rethymno day trip that adds Plakias gains a seaside resort set on a bay. Its story starts with fishing. Plakias grew from a fishing jetty into a tourist resort. A jetty is a small pier where boats tie up.

On paper, Plakias sits inside Agios Vasileios, which is a municipality. Its own council governs a municipality, meaning a local district. The seat of Agios Vasileios, where its local government sits, is the village of Spili. For a Rethymno day trip, that makes Plakias one part of a wider district with its own centre.

The first official record of Plakias is short and very simple. A census counts everyone who lives in a place, and the tally is official. The 1961 census first recorded Plakias officially, as the permanent home of six fishermen. That entry ties Plakias to fishing in its very first official record.

The story of this area also includes road building. Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas built roads and bridges to link the mountain villages of Myrthios and Sellia. An emperor is the single ruler of an empire, a big set of lands. That detail adds depth to Plakias for readers planning a Rethymno day trip.

• Old walls: Pieces of wall from a hilltop area built for defence remain just northeast of the main town.
• Gentle beach: The beach at Plakias slopes very gradually into the bay, so the sea floor deepens slowly.
• Farm land: The area around Plakias has plenty of agricultural space, meaning farming land, for a settlement.

Outdoor sport has a place at Plakias too. Loop hikes, which end where they start, pass nearby villages and beaches from Plakias. Paligremnos Rock is a climbing destination there. On a Rethymno day trip, that gives Plakias a wider story than sand and sea.

What does the Kourtaliotiko Gorge add to a Rethymno day trip?

A Rethymno day trip gains a rugged natural setting in the Kourtaliotiko Gorge. A river cuts a gorge, a narrow valley bounded by steep rocky walls. This one is found in western Crete, on its southern side.

The gorge’s cliffs give the Lammergeier vulture a roost, which is a spot to rest and sleep. A vulture is a large bird that feeds on dead animals, and the Lammergeier is one kind. Cliffs like these give a Rethymno day trip a wild side that sea and sand do not.

A clapping sound is heard at a point about 20 metres from the gorge’s northern entrance. The northern entrance is the end of the gorge that faces north. The road through the gorge turns west toward the town of Plakias on Crete’s southern coast. Both details help a reader describe where the gorge sits on the island.

Mount Kouroupa has a summit, the top of the mountain, 984 metres above sea level. Sea level, the point from which heights are measured, is the sea’s surface height. The Kourtaliotiko Gorge lies to the east of that mountain. These two landmarks set the scene for a Rethymno day trip.

• Palm trees: Native palm trees grow in the gorge, which means they belong to the area naturally.
• Villages: Asomatos and Mirthios stand on the south side of Mount Kouroupa.
• Film work: Film crews shot scenes in both the Kourtaliotiko and Prasiano gorges.

The gorge offers a clear change of pace from the town sights. It turns a Rethymno day trip toward nature and open country. That change is what the gorge brings to the plan. Outdoor fans gain a fresh and different side of the island of Crete.

What does Argyroupoli add to a Rethymno day trip?

A Rethymno day trip that includes Argyroupoli adds a village of 313 people. The 2021 census, the country’s official tally of all its residents, gave that number. Rethymno municipality, a district governed by a single local council, is where the village sits.

The village has worn more than one name. In the seventeenth century, it was jokingly called “donkey city”. From 1868 to 1878, it carried the Turkish name Stambolköy, which means Stambol village. The name Argyroupolis returned to use in 1878. Those name changes are worth knowing on a Rethymno day trip.

Lappa is an ancient city, which means a city from the distant past. A myth recorded by Stephanus of Byzantium says Agamemnon founded Lappa. The ancient Greeks told that story long ago. A myth is a traditional tale passed down over time. It is only a story, not proven history.

Lappa gave refuge, a safe place to live, to the people of Lyktos after Knossos destroyed their city. Lappa also minted coins, meaning it made its own money. The coins showed the heads of emperors, the rulers of a large empire, including Augustus. Such facts add real depth to a Rethymno day trip.

• Cistern: Robert Pashley saw a cistern, or water tank, at Lappa that measured 23.2 by 6.1 metres.
• Bishop’s seat: Lappa was a bishop’s seat, meaning the base of a church leader, and answered to Gortyn.
• Council: Petrus, a bishop of Lappa, attended the First Council of Ephesus, a church gathering, in 431.

Lappa is thought to have been a colony of the city of Tarrha. A colony is a settlement started by people who came from another city. The village is small, but its record is long, and a Rethymno day trip can tell both.

What does Anogeia add to a Rethymno day trip?

A Rethymno day trip can add Anogeia, a municipality of Crete’s Rethymno regional unit. Its own council governs a municipality, which is a local area. A regional unit means a bigger district that is built from a group of such areas.

Anyone who plans a Rethymno day trip can start with the numbers for the place. The municipality of Anogeia covers an area of 102.632 square kilometres. Sides of one kilometre each make up one square kilometre, which is a patch of land. In 2021, the municipality had a population of 2,240 people.

Local history gives a Rethymno day trip a story to tell. According to a legend, a shepherd from Axos found a Saint John the Baptist icon on Psiloreitis. An icon is a holy picture painted for prayer. The church of Saint John seems to have been the first building of the settlement.

Inside the temple of Saint John are Byzantine wall drawings dating to the 11th century. A temple here means a church, and Byzantine means linked to the medieval Byzantine Empire. The Fokas family received Anogia in 1182. Crete was divided among the 12 Young Princes of Byzantium that year.

• Work: Anogians of old times were mainly shepherds and goatherds, people who herd sheep and goats.
• Growth: Anogia was already a significant settlement of 911 citizens in 1593.
• Festival: The Yakinthia cultural festival is held at 1200m on the Nida Plateau, south of Anogeia.

In 1946, the state honored Anogia with the War Cross first class. A War Cross is a medal that a state gives for service in war. That record adds one more chapter to the story that Anogeia brings to a Rethymno day trip.

What does Spili add to a Rethymno day trip?

A Rethymno day trip adds Spili, a village on Crete that belongs to the Rethymno regional unit. A regional unit works like a county elsewhere, as an area under local government. Spili is one of the villages that belong to that area.

The Agios Vasileios municipality has Spili as its seat. The seat is where the local government works, and a municipality covers a council’s area. The Agios Vasileios municipality covers 359.171 square kilometres. For a Rethymno day trip, that makes Spili the administrative centre of a wide area.

The 2011 local government reform created the Agios Vasileios municipality. A reform is a formal change in the rules, here in how local areas are drawn. The reform merged two former municipalities into one, and the new municipality took the name Agios Vasileios. The map of local government changed after this reform took effect.

Spili was the seat of the former Lampi municipality. The Lampi municipal unit counted 3,929 residents in the 2021 census figure. A census is a count of people made officially, and a municipal unit forms part of a municipality. That count puts a Rethymno day trip among places where people live.

• Road access: The Gious Kampos plateau has good road access from Spili, and a plateau means high, flat land.
• Altitude: On average, the plateau stands 750 metres above sea level.
• Red tulip: The red tulip known by the scientific name Tulipa doerfleri thrives on the Gious Kampos plateau.

The Cretan lyra player Thanassis Skordalos was born in Spili. The lyra is a stringed instrument. His first recording, made in 1946, was a record titled the Spiliano Syrto. Music gives a Rethymno day trip a human story as well as a place name.

What does Agia Galini bring to a Rethymno day trip?

A Rethymno day trip adds Agia Galini, a village described as large. The community is classified as a rural lowland settlement, a countryside village on low land. The village also holds a story of an empress, a ship at sea, and a church.

The story begins with Eudocia, the wife of Emperor Theodosius II, the ruler of an empire. She was exiled to Africa around 441 AD. Exiled means that a person is forced to leave home. Anyone planning a Rethymno day trip with an eye on history can start with this story.

The ship carrying Eudocia was caught in a storm in the gulf of Messara. The word gulf names a big bay that the sea forms. Afterwards, the vessel safely reached the harbour shore of Soulia. A vessel is another word for a ship. A harbour gives ships a protected place along the coast to stop.

Eudocia made a vow, a serious promise, and built a church in honour of the Virgin Mary. The church was named for the Holy Virgin of serenity, using the Greek word Galini. Serenity means a state of calm and peace. The church adds a story of faith to a Rethymno day trip.

• Monastery: Historical writings suggest the village name came from Galinios Christos, the Serene Christ, a monastery for monks.
• Old name: Soulia is the earlier name of the harbour shore, which is now called Agia Galini.
• Surroundings: The village is described as having a great environment and a wonderful climate.

The feast day of St. Galini is celebrated on the 16th of April. A feast day is a church holiday set aside to honour a saint. For a Rethymno day trip, this date is one more fact to know about Agia Galini.

What does Panormos add to a Rethymno day trip?

A Rethymno day trip can include Panormos, a village that belongs to the Rethymno regional unit of Crete. The term regional unit names an administrative area, a district run by local government as one block. In plain terms, it works like a county.

Panormos was a harbour of ancient Crete. A harbour is a stretch of water by the shore where ships tie up. The name Panormos means sheltered harbour, so the word itself describes a safe place for boats. On a Rethymno day trip, the name alone tells readers what kind of place Panormos once was.

The ancient harbour of Panormos was also known as Aulopotamos. The ancient harbour site lies near modern Kastelli Mylopotamou, a place also called Panormos. Anyone planning a Rethymno day trip to this shore meets three names: Aulopotamos, Panormos and Kastelli Mylopotamou. Each name is tied to the same stretch of shore.

Ancient Eleutherna controlled two ports on the shore, Stavromenos and Panormos. A port is a harbour with docks, where goods and people move between ships and land. Eleutherna was an ancient city, which means a town of the old world with its own rulers. To control a port means to hold authority over it.

• Airfield: The old Rethymno military airfield stretched from the Pigian plain, a flat stretch of land, to Sfakaki.
• Ambush: Local ELAS guerrillas, who fight in small bands, ambushed a German column heading for Rethymno at Sfakaki.
• Paratroopers: In the Battle of Rethymno, paratroopers, soldiers who land by parachute, were dropped as far as Stavromenos.

Stavromenos lies east of Rethymno, and the gorges beside Arkadi Monastery lead to it. A gorge means a narrow, deep valley bounded by steep rock walls. Monks live in a monastery, which is their home. That adds one more name to a Rethymno day trip around Panormos.

What does Bali add to a Rethymno day trip?

A Rethymno day trip can add Bali, a place on the island of Crete. Bali has developed from a sleepy fishing village into a thriving tourist destination. That change from a quiet village to a busy resort town is the main thing the stop adds.

Bali stands on the site of ancient Astale. Astale was the harbour of Axos, an ancient city inland on the slopes of Mount Ida. A harbour gives boats a protected spot to tie up. An ancient city is a town that dates back to ancient Greek times. The resort sits on an old port.

Bali has seen a significant rise in hotels, apartments and boutique resorts. A boutique resort is a small, stylish hotel complex with its own character. Bali is particularly known for its spas, wellness centres and luxury hotels. These spas and hotels set the tone of a Rethymno day trip in Bali.

Tourism is now the primary driver of the local economy in Bali. The local economy means the work and money that keep a place running. Restaurants, souvenir shops and water sports centres serve the visitors who come to Bali. Visitors on a Rethymno day trip become part of that tourist trade.

• Community: Melidoni is the community that holds Bali, and a community is a local district.
• Name: Bali in Crete is pronounced with the stress on the last syllable, the end of the word.
• Climate: Bali has a Mediterranean climate, which is the weather found in lands that border the Mediterranean Sea.

A Rethymno day trip gains range when Bali is added. The stop shows a Cretan place that has changed a great deal over time. That contrast gives the day a second theme, and it is the clearest answer to what Bali adds.

What does the Melidoni Cave bring to a Rethymno day trip?

A Rethymno day trip gains deep history at the Melidoni Cave, a hollow in the rock. Excavations, or digs by archaeologists, show constant use of the cave. People kept using it from the late Neolithic, or New Stone Age, until Roman times.

The Melidoni Cave gives a Rethymno day trip a long record as a holy place. In classical antiquity, the ancient Greek and Roman world, it was dedicated to the god Hermes. In Neolithic and Minoan times, it was also a place of worship of Talos, Crete’s bronze giant. Minoan refers to an ancient Cretan civilisation.

Ancient Greek tales describe Talos as a bronze man who kept pirates and invaders away from Crete. In one telling, Zeus gave Talos to Europa. Talos guarded Crete by running around it three times. This myth links a Rethymno day trip to the long story of Crete and its giant.

Another tale tells of the Argo, a ship in Greek myth, as it approached Crete. Talos kept the ship away by hurling great boulders at it. The writer Apollonius describes Talos as bronze and safe from harm. The one exception was a single vein in his ankle, under thin skin.

• Defence: The people sheltering in the cave defended it successfully for three months.
• Memorial: A cross inside the cave stands in memory of the victims.
• Village record: Documents from 1379 already mention the name of the village of Melidoni.

One tradition says the name Melidoni comes from a Venetian census that found a thousand women. Venetian refers to the city of Venice, and a census is a count of the people. Local lore like this also belongs to a Rethymno day trip.

What does Axos add to a Rethymno day trip?

A Rethymno day trip gains an ancient inland town in Axos. The town stood on the slopes of Mount Ida, a mountain on Crete. Its harbour lay at Astale, so the town had its own link to the sea.

In classical Greece, Axos was a polis, which means a city-state that ruled itself. People lived at the site from the Geometric period, an early Greek age. They stayed until the Byzantine period, the later Eastern Roman age. Such a long span of settled life adds depth to a Rethymno day trip.

Writers of the ancient world mention Axos. They include Herodotus, Virgil, Cicero, Strabo and Stephen of Byzantium. In the Argonautica, an ancient Greek poem, Axos is the setting of a myth. In that tale, the nymph Anchiale, a nature spirit, gave birth there to the Dactyls of Ida. The Dactyls are beings from Greek myth.

The Italian Archaeological School carried out the first excavations at the site in 1899. Excavations are careful digs that uncover buried remains. The digs turned up pottery, stone vessels, inscriptions and figurines of naked women. These finds give Axos objects as well as names, which suits a Rethymno day trip built around history.

• Bronze Age remains: Late Minoan IIIC remains lie southeast of the modern village of Axos, at an elevation of 600 metres.
• Official order: Axos appears in a list of Cretan cities in a Knossos decree from around 259/233 BCE.
• Coin designs: The coins of Axos show the gods Zeus and Apollo, who were worshipped in ancient Greece.

In Roman and Byzantine times, Axos prospered. It became an important episcopal see, meaning the seat where a bishop, a senior church leader, was based. The rise of Axos gives a Rethymno day trip a later chapter in the story of this town.

What does Fourfouras add to a Rethymno day trip?

A Rethymno day trip can add Fourfouras, a village in the south-east of Rethymno. It lies at the centre of the former Amari province. It is the seat, or main base, of its own community. A community is a unit of local government.

Fourfouras is built on the western foothills of Psiloritis, at 460 metres altitude. Foothills are the lower slopes that spread out at the base of a mountain. Altitude means height above the level of the sea. Psiloritis is the mountain above the village, which gives a Rethymno day trip a mountain setting.

Fourfouras had 513 residents in the 2021 census, an official tally of the entire population. That total makes it the biggest village of Amari, the area around it. One local council looks after a municipality, which is the area under its care. The former municipality of Kourites also had its seat in Fourfouras.

A small vaulted church of Agios Georgios stands near Fourfouras. Vaulted means the roof forms a curved arch, and Agios Georgios is Greek for Saint George. The church has wall paintings dated to 1411. Readers planning a Rethymno day trip can place those paintings in the fifteenth century.

• Name: One explanation links the name Fourfouras to the steep, fortress-like position of the village.
• Venetian count: The Venetians, people of the Italian city of Venice, counted 225 inhabitants in Fourfouras in 1583.
• Trade: Local businesses have made Fourfouras the commercial centre of the Amari area.

The Libyan Sea lies 25 kilometres from Fourfouras, so the village stands inland, away from the coast. For a Rethymno day trip, Fourfouras is a place to learn about the Amari district. Its past, church and trade all belong to that story.

What does Zominthos add to a Rethymno day trip?

A Rethymno day trip can add Zominthos, a small plateau in the northern foothills of Mount Ida. A plateau is high, flat land; foothills are a mountain’s lower slopes. The site holds a large building of the Minoans, an early people of Crete.

The building at Zominthos lies considerably above the altitude limit of Minoan and modern Cretan settlements. Its construction also uses features that belong only to palatial architecture, which means the design of a palace. A Rethymno day trip that names Zominthos therefore points to a palace-style building high in the hills.

Orientation is the direction in which a building faces, and this one keeps a strict north–south line. The building also extends to at least 1350 square metres. A square metre is the area of a square with sides one metre long. The words at least mark a minimum, not an exact total.

Signs of permanent settlement at Zominthos date back to about 1800 BC. BC means before Christ, and years in that count run backward. The building belongs to the Neopalatial period, which means the new palace period of Minoan Crete. Zominthos gives a Rethymno day trip a story from the Minoan age.

• Frescoes: Frescoes, or wall paintings, were found in rooms of the building.
• Pottery: A large pottery workshop found there is a feature of Minoan Crete alone.
• Rock crystal: Artefacts made from processed rock crystal, a clear stone, were also unearthed there.

Excavations have uncovered only a small part of the building, and digging continues. For a Rethymno day trip, Zominthos therefore stays an open chapter of Cretan history, still being written. Excavation means careful digging by experts to uncover the remains of old buildings.

What questions come up about a Rethymno day trip?

A Rethymno day trip raises four plain questions. The topics are airport access, the time of year, the regional unit and the municipality. The answers below use airport changes, monthly lows from a climate table, census counts and the municipality’s size.

Which airport serves a Rethymno day trip?

Chania International Airport is the airport named here. On 10 June 2018, the American president’s plane stopped there for refuelling. The airport raised its hand baggage scanners, machines that check carry-on bags, from 5 to 8. It removed its departure hall walls, making 3,000 square metres of space.

Which season suits a Rethymno day trip?

The Rethymno climate table lists monthly lows, which are the coolest temperatures of a month. It puts the April low at 52 °F. It puts the July low at 70 °F. It puts the October low at 59 °F. Seasons are best compared by these three table figures.

Which regional unit holds a Rethymno day trip?

A regional unit, similar to a county, is a government area. Tourism is the main income of the Rethymno regional unit today. Violi Charaki had 3,185 residents by the 2021 census, which counts people officially. Anogeia town had 2,201 residents in that same census.

Which municipality holds a Rethymno day trip?

A municipality is the area that a single local government runs. At the 2021 census, 57,216 inhabitants lived in the Municipality of Rethymno. It covers 396.256 square kilometres. It united the former municipalities of Arkadi, Lappa, Rethymno and Nikiforos Fokas into one area.