tall, proud mountains, deep, cool
gorges, mysterious caves, fertile
valleys, lush vegetation, steep cliffs,
serene coves, wild seas, calm seas,
a gentle climate.

Crete is luxuriant and generous,
diverse and multiform. It is an island
of contrasts, an amalgam of
civilizations.

Crete is ancient, yet so modern.
Traditional, ad yet a pioneer.
So ordinary yet so unusual.
So ceremonious and yet so simple.
And, above all, so human...

The nature and the people of Crete
will prove this to you. The sheer joy
of living, the blessing of the present
day, the happy anticipation of the
morrow are the island's heartbeat.

Lying as the island does, on the
crossroads of the three ancient
continents - Europe, Asia and Africa
- it has inherited something from
each. From Europe, its cosmopolitan
air, from Asia its reserved,
traditional character, from Africa its
palm trees and the hot breath of the
south wind.
Situated at the southernmost point of
Greece, it is the last outpost of
Hellenism, and it seems like a
gigantic wall on which the lines of the
poet, Costis Palamas, are etched:

...Crete of blood and triumphs.
Standing vigilant against tyrants,

Crete, Crete.