Gortys – Festos - Matala

Matala has been inhabited since antiquity, but it became world famous when this small fishing village became a mecca for hippies in the 1960s and 1970s.

Here we have the opportunity to enjoy the dew of the crystal waters, the warmth of the sun and our lunch in one of the many small taverns by the sea, while later, as modern hippies, we can explore the prehistoric caves that are carved on the steep rocks of the area.   

Gortys (or Gortyna) is one of the most significant ancient cities of Crete, with a long history dating back thousands of years.

You will be fascinated by St. Titus’ Church, the Chamber of the Law Code, the Odeon and, of course, the natural beauty and the serenity of the landscape: the square with the everlasting gnarled olive trees and the evergreen plane tree, in the shade of which Zeus and Europe had their wedding ceremony.

Festos (or Phaistos), or more precisely, the Minoan Palace of Festos, is one of the most important archaeological sites on Crete.

The Minoan Palace of Festos was a robust and thriving city that, not randomly, developed in Messara Plain during prehistoric times, that is, from 6000 BC. up to the 1st century BC., as attested by numerous archaeological findings.