Crete: Hania Prefecture Overview Page Twenty-eight

Crete's South Coast continued

The remains of the Dorian city of Lissos to the west, can be reached on foot in 1 ½ hours or less (a quarter hour by boat), the marked path beginning from behind the beach at the harbor and leading up a beautiful gorge, and then back towards the sea, where Lissos sits below you at the back side of a small bay.

There is a medicinal spring here which pours from a cliff wall, and which was the site of a much visited 3rd century BC Askipion (healing sanctuary), remains of which reveal a pebble mosaic floor and a snake pit (uninhabited now). There were also an old theater, bath houses, and two 13th century Christian basilicas which were rebuilt during the 13th century. Gold coins were minted here during the times of the sanctuary.

Ancient Lissos was a city state and member of the League of the Oreii ('oros' the ancient Greek word for mountain, with the plural used for the name of the League). It flourished until the 9th century Saracen conquest. You can't bathe in the hot springs here, but the caretaker might open it for you to see, and it can also be viewed from above.

On the western slope of the valley opposite are tombs that look like huts with barrel vaulted roofs. You can take a swim at the little pebble beach on the bay.

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