Agia Pelagia (, " Saint Pelagia") is a popular seaside resort in the municipality of Malevizi, 23 km northwest of Crete's capital city of

Heraklion Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital city, capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in G ...

. In former times, Agia Pelagia was a tiny

fishing village A fishing village is a village, usually located near a fishing ground, with an economy based on catching fish and harvesting seafood. The continents and islands around the world have coastlines totalling around 356,000 kilometres (221,000 ...

and a place for the residents of nearby Achlada village to grow their crops. Today, the village built at the center of a picturesque amphitheatric bay has been transformed into a bustling tourist resort featuring five-star hotels, traditional seaside tavernas, cafes, bars, internet cafés, ATMs, and souvenir shops. The village takes its name from the homonymous church, in the Monastery of the Sebbathians, ruins of which are found at a distance of 1 km west of the village. The beaches of the village are popular with locals and tourists because they are sheltered by the rock outcroppings that almost encircle Agia Pelagia Bay. Agia Pelagia was heavily damaged by the 2022 Greek floods.

Archaeology

The first major excavations at Agia Pelagia were carried out at Cape Souda, near Evresi Cave, by

Sir Arthur Evans Sir Arthur John Evans (8 July 1851 – 11 July 1941) was a British archaeologist and pioneer in the study of Aegean civilization in the Bronze Age. The first excavations at the Minoan palace Minoan palaces were massive building complexe ...

. It was archaeologist Stylianos Alexiou, along with Dr. Athanasia Kanta, who performed the majority of later research. Alexiou, and others put forward the hypothesis that Agia Pelagia was the site of ancient Panormos (Ancient Greek: Πάνορμος), also known as Aulopotamos (Αὐλοπόταμος). At the north end of Agia Pelagia Bay, remnants of excavations of the Hellenistic town of Apollonia (), also Apollonia (Ἀπολλωνία) can still be seen. The legendary archaeologist

John Pendlebury John Devitt Stringfellow Pendlebury (12 October 1904 – 22 May 1941) was a British archaeologist who worked for British intelligence during World War II. He was captured and Summary execution, summarily executed by German troops during the ...

classified surface finds discovered at Agia Pelagia as "implied" proof of a Late Minoan settlement there. Post-Minoan graves and the University ( Prtanion) of the 4th century BC were found in 1970 at the site "Kladistos" or "Kladotos". Also, there is a nearby cave, with the name "Evresi", where - according to legend - local people found the icon of Agia Pelagia. The village also has

outcrop An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth and other terrestrial planets. Features Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most p ...

s of

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

greenschist Greenschists are metamorphic rocks that formed under the lowest temperatures and pressures usually produced by regional metamorphism, typically and 2–10 kilobars (). Greenschists commonly have an abundance of green minerals such as Chlorite ...

rock which was quarried and used to pave streets and floors of

Minoan The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age culture which was centered on the island of Crete. Known for its monumental architecture and Minoan art, energetic art, it is often regarded as the first civilization in Europe. The ruins of the Minoan pa ...

palace A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

s between 1650 and 1600 BC.

References

{{Coord, 35.406821, 25.018487, display=title Populated places in Heraklion (regional unit) Malevizi