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The Askyfou tableland is situated in the Lefka Ori at an altitude of 750 metres. The name of the tableland is derived from the ancient Greek word 'skyfos', meaning 'cup', which refers to the tableland's position between the 1500 m high mountains. |
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Like the Lassithi Plateau, Askyfou has been moulded by eroded materials that over the years have slipped from the surrounding mountains. In prehistory the tableland was probably a lake, but today it is fertile arable land, where especially wheat, oats, potatoes and animal feed are grown. Apart from agriculture there are also a lot of sheep and goats. | |||
| From the north coast the road to Askyfou passes Vrises and the Krapi tableland. Here you find an Agios Ioannis Prodromos Rigologos church, where Daskalogiannis and his companions celebrated Easter in 1770 before their appalling defeat. |
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afterwards you pass the Katres gorge, and having passed the highest point
of the trip, Xylodema, the road descends to the plain.
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One of the first sights you meet on Askyfou are the ruins of two Turkish castles, each on the top of a hill - the hills of Planas. The castles were built in 1868-69, but they were only used for four years, until the inhabitants of the tableland destroyed them, having driven the Turks away from the area. | |||
| Of the northern castle only a few low walls are left, |
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but in the southern castle you can easily get an impression of the interior. | |||
| The easiest way to get to the castles is by following the gravel road from Xylodema, but you must be prepared to climb over or to open several goat fences! |
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Along the main road that winds towards the plain two cafés/ taverns have been built, from where there is a magnificent view of the area. | |||
| On the tableland there are four small settlements. From the North: Kares, Ammoudari and Petres, and Goni on the eastern part of the plain. The villages that in earlier times formed a separate municipality with 444 inhabitants, 200 of whom live in Ammoudari, 156 in Kares, 44 in Petres and 44 in Goni, were assigned to the municipality of Sphakia at the programme "Ioannis Kapodistrias" in 1998. |
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During winter the tableland is often covered with snow, so in earlier times the inhabitants used to leave Askyfou in order to move to the villages along the southern coast. | |||
| In the first of the villages, Kares, you will find Giorgos Chatzidakis' War Museum with objects from the Second World War and a smaller collection of domestic utensils and agricultural tools. |
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Between Kares and Ammoudari the brightly coloured church of Manouil and Ioannis is situated. | |||
| At the end of the 18th century Manouil fled to the island of Chios with his family and many women and children from the area in order to avoid the aggressions of the Turks in the years after the failure of the Daskalogiannis rebellion in 1770. But in 1792 he was killed - only 34 years old - by the Turks of the island, as he refused to renounce his Christian faith. He is commemorated with a church feast on the first Sunday after the Panagia feast the 15th August. |
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In the church square is a large stone in commemoration of the Cretan partisans' common meeting (21st August 1866), at which they decided to unite with the free Greece - however, almost 50 years were to pass before this wish became a reality. | |||
| Ammoudari is the biggest of the villages. |
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The mountains behind the village are called Tavri, and in the distance you can see the summit of Kastro (2.218 m). It has this name because from the top you can see Iraklion, which was formerly called Megalo Kastro. | |||
| In
the square there are three busts: One of Georgios Tsontos, who was a general during the battles in Macedonia 1903-08 and 1914. One of Andreas Polentas,
who participated in the resistance during the Second World War but was
killed in 1942. The third bust represents Stavrianos Polentas (Sisanes),
who died in 1959 at the age of 103. He is buried at the Agion Pnevma
church on the Tavri tableland.
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| In the third of the villages, Petres, Manousos Koundouros was born. |
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Koundouros was working fervourly for the autonomy of Crete and acted as Minister of the Interior and Transport in the first government of Kritiki Politia. | |||
| On the other side of the plain the village of Goni is situated by the hill called Skogio, just south of the hills of Planas with the two Turkish castles. |
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| History of Askyfou: click here (opens in a new window) | ||||
| Hiking from Askyfou: click here (opens in a new window) | ||||
