Crete - Greece - page 829

Greece, not mere independence from Turkey. Yet it would take the Greek army's suc-
cesses in the Balkan Wars (1912-13) to turn Crete's de facto inclusion in the country into
reality, with the 1913 Treaty of Bucharest.
Crete suffered tremendously during WWII, due to being coveted by Hitler for its stra-
tegic location. On 20 May 1941 a huge flock of German parachutists quickly over-
whelmed the Cretan defenders. The Battle of Crete, as it would become known, raged for
10 days between German and Allied troops from Britain, Australia, New Zealand and
Greece. For two days the battle hung in the balance until the Germans captured the
Maleme Airfield, near Hania. The Allied forces fought a valiant rearguard action, en-
abling the British Navy to evacuate 18,000 of the 32,000 Allied troops. The harsh Ger-
man occupation lasted throughout WWII, with many mountain villages bombed or burnt
down and their occupants executed en masse.

Getting There & Away

AIR
Most travellers arrive in Crete by air, usually with a change in Athens. Iraklio's Nikos
Kazantzakis Airport is Crete's busiest airport, although Hania ( www.chania-airport.com ) is
convenient for travellers heading to western Crete. Sitia only receives a handful of do-
mestic flights.
Between May and October, European low-cost carriers and charter airlines such as
easyJet, Germanwings, AirBerlin, Fly Thomas Cook and Jet2 operate direct flights to
Crete, mostly from UK and German airports. Aegean Airlines operates direct flights to
Iraklio from several European cities, including Brussels, Frankfurt, Paris and St Peters-
burg; coming from another destination requires connecting in Athens. Travellers from
North America need to connect via a European gateway city such as Paris, Amsterdam or
Frankfurt and sometimes again in Athens.
To reach Crete by air from other Greek islands also requires changing in Athens, ex-
cept for the following flights operated by the Crete-based airline Sky Express
( www.skyexpress.gr ) .

Domestic Flights from Crete

DESTINATION AIRPORT TIME FREQUENCY

Alexandroupoli Sitia 1½hr 3 weekly

Athens Iraklio 1hr 3 weekly

Ikaria Iraklio 50min 4 weekly