Crete, has a population of 650,000. The island has an elongated shape: it spans 260 km from east to west, is 60 km at its widest point, and narrows to as little as 12 km. Crete with a coastline of 1,046 km to the north, it broaches the Kritikon Pelagos to the south, the Livikon Pelagos in the west, the Myrtikon Pelagos, and toward the east the Karpathion Pelagos.
Crete is extremely mountainous, and its character is defined by a high mountain range crossing from west to east, formed by three different groups of mountains. These are:
- the White Mountains or Lefka Ori
- the Idi Range or Psiloritis
- the Dikti Mountains
- Kedros
- Thripti
These mountains gifted Crete with fertile plateaux, such as Lasithi, Omalos and Nidha; caves, such as Diktaion and Idaion; and gorges, such as the famous gorge of Samaria. The protected area of the Samaria Gorge is the home of kri-kri, while Cretan mountains and gorges are refuges for the endangered vulture Lammergeir (Gypaetus barbatus).
There are a number of rivers on Crete, including the Ieropotamos River on the southern part of the island.
Crete straddles two climatic zones, the Mediterranean and the North African, mainly falling within the former. As such, the climate in Crete is primarily temperate. The atmosphere can be quite humid, depending on the proximity to the sea, while winter is fairly mild. Snowfall is common on the mountains between November and May, but rare in the low lying areas, especially near the coast when it only stays on the ground for a few minutes or hours. During the Cretan summer, average temperatures reach the high 20s-low 30s Celsius.
The south coast, including the Mesara Plain and Asterousia Mountains, falls in the North African climatic zone, and thus enjoys significantly more sunny days and high temperatures throughout the year. In southern Crete, date palms bear fruit, and swallows remain year-round rather than migrate to Africa.
The island of Crete is a Region of Greece, consisting of four prefectures:
- Chania
- Heraklion
- Lasithi
- Rethymno
Crete has been able to preserve much of its culture. Cretan Greek has been maintained as the spoken dialect, and Cretan wine and tsikoudia, a potent distillate, are the traditional drinks. The island is known for its music, typically performed with the lyre and has many indigenous dances, the most noted of which is probably the Pentozali. Cretan authors have made important contributions to Greek Literature throughout the modern period; major names include Vintzentzos Kornaros, creator of the 17th century epic romance Erotokritos, and in the 20th century Nikos Kazantzakis. In the Renaissance, Crete was the home of the Cretan School of icon painting, which influenced El Greco and through him subsequent European painting.
Cretans are fiercely proud of their island and customs, and men often don elements of their traditional dress in everyday life: knee-high black riding boots, black shirts and black headdress consisting of a fishnet-weave kerchief worn wrapped around the head or draped on the shoulders. Black is the color of mourning, and since Cretan families are notionally considered so extended as to include greatgrandparents or second cousins (although they may have little actual contact) as well as all their respective in-laws, one is theoretically justified to be in continuous mourning for some relative or other, however distant. On festive occasions all that is normally worn black is then worn white.
Crete is one of the most popular holiday destinations in Greece. Fifteen percent of all arrivals in Greece come through the city of Heraklion (port and airport), while charter journeys to Heraklion last year made up 20% of all charter flights in Greece. Overall, more than two million tourists visited Crete last year, and this increase in tourism is reflected on the number of hotel beds, rising by 53% in the period between 1986 and 1991, when the rest of Greece saw increases of only 25%. Today, the island's tourism infrastructure caters to all tastes, including a very wide range of accommodation; the island's facilities take in large luxury hotels with their complete facilities, swimming pools, sports and recreation, smaller family-owned apartments, camping facilities and others. Visitors reach the island via two international airports in Heraklion and Chania, or by boat to the main ports of Heraklion, Chania, Rethimno and Agios Nikolaos. Some of the most famous tourist attractions include the Minoan sites of Knossos and Phaistos, the classical site of Gortys, the Venetian old city and port of Chania, the Venetian castle at Rethymno, the Samaria Gorge and the Island of Spinalonga in Plaka .
