5. Rethymno – Perama – Anoyeia – the Idaean Cave – the Melidoni Cave

Now we must take the old main road in the direction of Herakleio. First, we come to Perama, chief town of the sub prefecture of Mylopotamos.

Here we can turn south to visit Margarites, the village where the famous storage jars are made in the ancient style, and Eleftherna, which occupies the site of an ancient city.

Ancient Eleftherna is approximately 30km to the south-east of Rethymno, in the foothills of Psiloritis Mountain (Ida), at an altitude of approximately 380meters above sea-level. The inhabited area was widespread, focusing on two nuclei on natural outcrops: Prine Hill and the flat hilltop on which the modern village now stands.

We can continue from here in the easterly direction, after Mourtziana we will come to the village of Garazo, in a verdant valley through which flows the river Oaxos or Yeropotamos. The same river also passes through the village of Axos, which stands below and ancient city called Axos or Oaxos.

Some of the inhabitants of Axos were compelled by Venetian persecution to flee further r to the east, where the founded the village of Axika Anoyeia or Xinganoyeia; this takes its name from the word ‘ano’, ‘up’, in the reference to the altitude of the village, high on the northern slopes of Ida Mountain just below the peak known as Armi.

Anoyeia is one of the most important centers for handcrafts and cottage industries in Crete, and it is also the starting point for the ascent of Ida Mountain (Psiloritis), with access to the Idaean Cave.

At Zominthos are traces of a Minoan villa discovered during recent excavations; further along, up a step path is the Idaean Cave. The cave is located on the superb Nida Plateau on Psiloritis, at an altitude of 1538meters; the local shepherds call it the ‘Shepherd Girl’s Cave’.

The cavern became a place to worship in Neolithic times, and retained this function in the Minoan era. In the Hellenistic and Roman periods it retained much of its glory, but with the coming of Christianity it ceased to have any religious importance and became shelter for shepherds.

According to the myths, Rhea gave birth to Zeus in the Diktaean Cave and then brought him here to hide him from his father Kronos, who would have swallowed him.

After returning to Anoyeia, we can either head west back to Rethymno or east for Herakleio.

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