For the creation of all RAGiF’s (Routaki Audio Guide info Files) a lot of research has been done on all aspects of Crete. This resulted in at least 300,000 words of information divided over the different subjects. On this page you will find links to the pages where you can read the whole (or the basic) story for the information that is played to you in audio form when you drive or walk one of the Routaki routes.
Maybe you have already noticed the traditional style of houses on Crete. Because Crete is an area with a higher risk for earthquakes, it is ordered by law that steel reinforcement and concrete is used for the construction of houses.
>Why are the tree-trunks painted white? Answer; to prevent the trunks getting corroded by bacterium and vermin. Read this one and many more interesting facts about life on Crete.
Undoubtedly you will notice the different behaviour in traffic when you compare the driving style with the one used in your home country.
Read more about the earthquake and the effects on the Minoan civilization.
Specialists and doctors in the Cretan hospitals have the same knowledge as in Western European countries, only the working environment looks a bit different as nurses haven’t got the same obligations.
Due to the climate in the summer in Crete it’s impossible to work and very unpleasant to go out. The heat is oppressive and the hot air rises above the tar. The nap in the afternoon is therefore very important to the Cretans.
The most important music instrument on Crete is the lyre. The three dimensional bow and string instrument with it’s pear shaped torso is held in front of the body, placed on the knee and is played with bow. Other instruments are; the bouzouki, the lute and the mandolin.
28th of October 1949: ‘Alors, c’est la guerre’, which mend as much as; ‘Then, it’s war’. This French sentence was quickly translated in the word Oxi, the simple term for NO in the Greek language.
Read more about why the Greeks have a public holiday on the 28th of October every year.
There is one special day of the year that almost everybody has a BBQ at their house, even at their work place! It’s the second Thursday before Carnival day, also known as Tsiknopempti, when everybody grills on his/her BBQ.
Available route where in you will drive through Cretan villages south of Heraklion:
Route 53 nicknamed; Knossos
In the VoiceMap app you’ll find this route under the name:
The treasures of Knossos unveiled: from Hersonissos through Archanes’ vineyards
