Arolithos Traditional Cretan Village, Woodcarving & Sfentoni Cave Tour

Arolithos Traditional Cretan Village(2 hours)

Arolithos, the traditional Cretan village, is a thematic and multiuse park. Its philosophy is based on the Cretan culture & traditions. Since 1988 the main goal of Arolithos is to gather and maintain the traditional elements of Crete as they used to be the beginning of the 20th century. It looks like a mountainous village with stone made houses and little streets. The main material such as stones and wood with the natural environment with the trees and the plants, give the visitors the chance to travel in time and feel the atmosphere of a village of past times.

In the village our visitors may see the folklore museum, the old houses, the workshops of arts, the markets with cretan products, the coffee shop. In the tavern one can taste dishes of traditional Cretan recipes and also to enjoy local wine. In summer season we organize several music and dancing events in which one can amuse himself and have an unforgettable memory of Greek night.

Woodcarving Museum (1 1/2 hours)

In a new, two-storey building, handmade wooden works of art made with a hammer and a chisel are exhibited. The dimensions of the sculptures displayed are life – size. However, some of them are presented in larger sizes, like “The Eagle and the Serpent”, which is about 6 meters in length or “My parents and I”, which is about three meters. The wood is from the island of Crete, coming mainly from dry trees uprooted in a natural way.

The visitor has the opportunity to tour the museum and the workshop and find out the aesthetic and artistic proposal, traditional elements (activities of the inhabitants of Crete/Greece in a society that is changing constantly and dramatically, customs and traditions) folklore elements (for example, the marking of the animals), sociological data (the family structure, the position of man and woman), historical evidences (for example, inside the trunks of the trees which were collected from the monasteries of Arkadi and Vosakos I discovered many bullets from the revolution of the Greeks against the Turks), etc. Visiting the museum can be combined with significant antiquities of Axos, which has a continues history of 4000 years, as well as other notable places in the region. More information here.

Sfentoni Cave(1 hour)

Crete is home of half of the country’s caves, about 5.200, but only three are officially open to the public. Sfentoni Cave is the largest of all and is located right next to the famous village of Zoniana. It is one of the three caves of Crete that are open to the public and the largest of them. Stalactites and Stalagmites in different color spectrums (white, dark red, grey, depending on the rock that forms them) sometimes unite and create naturally artistic pillars and sometimes they wait patiently for thousands, even millions of years to pass until they meet each other. Rocky sculptures shine magically under the light of the spotlights and according to science this is because they contain calcium carbonate crystals. According to science fiction though, this happens because fairies sprinkle them with glitter.

These are just a few of the stories narrated during the organized tour, while the lighting constantly changes around you creating a psychedelic (and quite cool) atmosphere! The cave features natural air-conditioning and the temperature is always around 16-17 degrees – a blessing during the hot summer months. There is no white light in the cave, because with humidity reaching 100% the conditions for photosynthesis and vegetation growth would be ideal. And then, how would the water drops continue their centuries-old task, to unite stalagmites with stalactites? How would orthoptera, pseudoscorpions, millipedes, snails and other freaky creatures of the “underworld” survive? Surely they are watching you from the secret corners of this underground labyrinth, while you just take a glimpse of their dark kingdom…