2. Chania – TherisosWe leave Chania in a westerly direction, for Kissamos, and soon come to a turning (left) through the village of Perivolia to heroic Therisos.
Part of our route leads through the imposing Therisos gorge or gorge of Eleftherios Venizelos, 6km in length. Two kilometers before we enter the village is the Kato Sarakina or Elliniko cave, which has produced archeological finds showing that it was a place of worship in Neolithic and Minoan times. The historic village of Therisos stands among the foothills of the White Mountains at an altitude of 500 m. This place played and important part in the modern history of Crete, for its inhabitants never ceased to fight the Turks. The events of 1905, when Eleftherios Venizelos and his supporters here declared the outbreak of a rising that went down in history as the ‘Therisos Rebellion’, made the village more significant still. The rebellion was a protest over the totalitarian regime of Prince George which the Great Powers had imposed. The revolutionaries compelled Prince George to resign from his post as High Commissioner and paved the way for union with Greece. In the village, the house which Venizelos used as his headquarters may be visited. Copyright © 2007-2008 Crete-Travel-Guide.com. All rights reserved. |
