Phaistos and Malia · 198 km from Tympáki

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Phaistos

   The Messara is Crete's largest plain, a broad, fertile trough between the Psiloritis range to the north and the low Asterousia hills to the south, and at its western end a long ridge rises above the valley of the Geropotamos river. On that ridge stood Phaistos, one of the great palaces of the Minoan civilisation, the culture that flourished in Crete in the second millennium BC. The first palace was built around 1900 BC and destroyed by an earthquake, and the second, rebuilt on top, was a larger and more graceful construction, with a broad staircase to the west court, storerooms, royal apartments and a central courtyard. The view alone makes the climb worth it, with Mount Ida snowy in spring on one side and the blue haze of the Libyan Sea on the other.

   Read the complete Phaistos write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Phaistos is where the day begins. Next is Knossos.

2. 2. Knossos

   Five kilometres south of Heraklion, on a low hill above the Kairatos stream, lie the ruins that gave Europe its oldest legend of a labyrinth. Knossos was the greatest centre of Minoan Crete, a sprawling palace complex of courtyards, storerooms, staircases and shrines that flourished in the second millennium BC. Its confusing plan, with hundreds of interlocking rooms on several levels, may well have inspired the Greek myth of King Minos, the craftsman Daedalus and the Minotaur imprisoned in the maze, waiting for Theseus.

   Read the complete Knossos write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Knossos comes up about 57 km into the recorded legs. Next is Malia.

3. 3. Mália

   Mália is two things in Crete at once: a beach resort known for loud nights, and the site of a Minoan palace that is nearly four thousand years old. The first palace was built around 1900 BC, destroyed by an earthquake or invaders, rebuilt about 1650 BC and then destroyed again around 1450 BC, the same wave of disasters that ended Minoan power across the island. It was excavated by French archaeologists from the 1920s, after a local scholar, Joseph Hatzidakis, had begun work in 1915. It is the third in size of Crete's great palaces, after Knossos and Phaistos.

   Read the complete Malia write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 98 km into the recorded legs you reach Malia. Next is back through Knossos.

4. 4. back through Knossos

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Knossos write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Knossos, late in the day. Next is Phaistos.

5. 5. Phaistos

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Phaistos write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Phaistos. That is the ride.