Palaiochora () is a small town in Chania regional unit,

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. It is located 70 km south of

Chania Chania (, , ), also sometimes romanization of Greek, romanized as Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania (regional unit), Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno ...

, on the southwest coast of

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

and occupies a small peninsula 400 m wide and 700 m long. The town is set along 11 km of coastline bordering the

Libyan Sea The Libyan Sea (; ; ) is the portion of the Mediterranean Sea north of the North Africa, African coast of Ancient Libya, ancient ''Libya'', i.e. Cyrenaica, and Marmarica (the coast of what is now Butnan District, eastern Libya and Matrouh Gov ...

. It is the seat of the municipality of Kantanos–Selino and its population was 2,181 in the 2021 census.

Economy

Palaiochora's economy is based on tourism and agriculture (mainly the cultivation of

tomato The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...

es in greenhouses, and also

olive oil Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a traditional Tree fruit, tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin) and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking for frying foods, as a cond ...

production). It has been a holiday destination since the early 1970s when it was popular with

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture of the mid-1960s to early 1970s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States and spread to dif ...

s. Palaiochora has crystal clear waters, well organised beaches, and isolated small anchorages. It is served by numerous hotels, restaurants, tavernas, cafés, and bars. Facilities in Palaiochora include bank branches, a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

, a central telephone office, a health centre, doctor's offices, dentists, chemists, a police station, a coast guard and customs office, and many types of stores. Ferry boats connect Palaiochora with

Sougia Sougia () is a community and a small village in Chania regional unit on the island of Crete, Greece. It is part of the municipal unit of East Selino (''Anatoliko Selino''). It is located on the south coast of the island, 70 km south of Chan ...

Agia Roumeli Agia Roumeli () is a small village in southwest Crete, Greece. It consists of two parallel streets along the water, with several restaurants and souvenir shops. There is an old fortress, called Castle Agia Roumeli, that sits on top of a hill to the ...

, Loutro,

Chora Sfakion Image:Chora Sfakion 1941 evacuation monument.jpg, 200px, Monument commemorating the evacuation during WW2 of British and ANZAC forces from Hora Sfakion in May 1941. ''Click on the left plaque for a closer view'' rect 198 536 320 1082 rect 0 0 900 ...

, and

Gavdos Gavdos ( ) is the southernmost Greek island, located to the south of its much larger neighbour, Crete, of which it is administratively a part, in the regional unit of Chania. It forms a community with surrounding islets and was part of the forme ...

. Local attractions include the abundant wild flowers in the spring, the opportunity to see Venetian and Byzantine frescoes in some of the local churches (including in Anidri and Voutas), and a museum dedicated to the Acretans in the town itself. The nearby village of Azogires, 5 km away, has a museum dedicated to the area as well as the now uninhabited Monastery of the 99 Holy Fathers and what is said to be the largest evergreen plane tree on the island. In 2009, a plan was announced to open a number of signposted walking routes in the area. The town is on the European E4 walking trail. Palaiochora stands on the ruins of the ancient city of

Kalamydi Kalamydi () is an ancient Dorian city on the south coast of Western Crete. It was first tentatively identified in 1837 by Robert Pashley in the second volume of his book ''Travels in Crete''. It is located near Palaiochora in Chania regional unit ...

History

In 1278, the

Venetian Venetian often means from or related to: * Venice, a city in Italy * Veneto, a region of Italy * Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area Venetians might refer to: * Masters of Venetian painting in 15th-16th centuries * ...

general Marino Gradenigo built a fort in the Palechora area, called the "Selino Kasteli". The fort gave its name to the whole province, previously known as 'Orina', which was then renamed 'Selino'. The fort was destroyed in 1332 and rebuilt in 1334. Near the fort, the Venetians established a new settlement for workers and merchants called Vourgos. The general

Hayreddin Barbarossa Hayreddin Barbarossa (, original name: Khiḍr; ), also known as Hayreddin Pasha, Hızır Hayrettin Pasha, and simply Hızır Reis (c. 1466/1483 – 4 July 1546), was an Ottoman corsair and later admiral of the Ottoman Navy. Barbarossa's ...

destroyed the fort in 1539, but it was refurbished in 1595 by Dolf. In 1645, the

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Turkey * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic lang ...

conquered the town and modified the fort to suit their needs. In 1834 an English traveler named

Robert Pashley Robert Pashley (4 September 1805 – 29 May 1859) was a 19th-century English traveller, lawyer and economist. Pashley was born in York and he studied at Trinity College, Cambridge. Distinguished in mathematics and Classics, in 1830 he was elected ...

found the fort completely destroyed and the whole area uninhabited. Only a granary and one or two small buildings remained. In 1866 the resettlement of Paleochora began. In December 1866, during the

Cretan uprising Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

against the Ottoman Turks, the British

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...

evacuated some 340 women and children from Paleochora, then known as Selino Castelli (or Selino Kastelli), and took them to Piraeus for safety. This caused a major international incident since the Ottoman authorities accused the British of siding with the Cretan rebels. Russian gunboats followed suit, evacuating refugees from Loutro and Sougia, east of Paleochora. During the

Battle of Crete The Battle of Crete (, ), codenamed Operation Mercury (), was a major Axis Powers, Axis Airborne forces, airborne and amphibious assault, amphibious operation during World War II to capture the island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the town was the scene of fighting between motorcycle-riding troops of the German 95th Reconnaissance Battalion and the Eighth Greek Regiment (Provisional) with elements of the Cretan Gendarmerie. The Germans built a number of gun emplacements by the Venetian Fortezza, and their remains are still visible. The general trend of

urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation in British English) is the population shift from Rural area, rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. ...

that began in other parts of Greece in the 1960s had already started in the previous decade on the nearby island of

. During that period the islanders exchanged their land on Gavdos for former Turkish holdings on Crete, which had now become exchangeable through a state program. They created a community known as 'Gavdiotika', in the 'old town' section of Paleochora.

Climate

Palaiochora has a

hot-summer Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

(''Csa'' in the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

). It has hot dry summers and very mild winters. Palaiochora falls in 11a plant hardiness zone. On June 27, 2007 Palaiochora recorded an astonishing minimum temperature of 35.8 °C. Furthermore on the night between 25 and 26 of June 2007 the temperature did not drop below 38.0 °C.

References

External links

Current weather conditionspaleochora.com

The Paleochora Site - Walks, Weather, Recipes, Botany, History of Paleochora
* ttp://www.palaiochora.com/ Site dedicated to palaiochora with many webcams, virtual tour and other villages around palaiochora {{Kantanos-Selino div Populated places in Chania (regional unit) Kantanos-Selino