Zominthos is a mountain meadow on the north-eastern shoulder of Mount Psiloritis, or Ida, the highest peak in Crete at 2,456 metres, and at about twelve hundred metres altitude it is cool, green and silent even in August. It was the site of a Minoan settlement, a large two-storey building of the middle Bronze Age, excavated from 1982 by the archaeologist Yiannis Sakellarakis, and the stone walls and rooms still stand among the grass. It was probably a way station on the path to the sacred Idaean Cave, where legend says the infant Zeus was hidden from his father Kronos and raised by nymphs and goats. A pilgrim route ran through here for thousands of years.
The ride up from Anógeia, a mountain village about five kilometres below, is half the pleasure. The village is famous for weaving, for its musicians, including the Xylouris family, and for its stubborn role in the Resistance, for which it was burned by the Germans in 1944. From the village the road climbs through bare rock and scrub, with long views down to the sea. It is narrow, with blind bends, and parts of the surface are broken, patched or gravelly, so a gentle pace and good tyres matter. Sheep and goats wander over it, bells clanking, and shepherds may step out to say hello. Check the current state of the road in Anógeia, because it is subject to repairs and winter damage.
The weather changes fast at this height. Mist can fill the plateau within minutes, and in winter snow can close the road. Summer is the sensible season, from May to October, with clear skies and a lovely scent of thyme and sage. In spring there are wild tulips and cyclamen in the rocks. The mountain air is thin and clean, and the quiet is surprising on an island that gets millions of tourists.
A small taverna operates near the site in the season, serving local cheese, boiled goat and herbal tea, and it is worth lingering over. Take warm clothes, even in July, and a hat. Walk the ruin slowly, and look up at the great bulk of Ida, with its summit often wrapped in cloud.