The Sfakian ' Kallikratis '

Kallikrates has become a well known name in Greece, being the name given to the government scheme to overhaul local Municipalities, but in Crete it is also the name of a small mountain village in Sfakia where just three Sfakian families remain.

The village of Kallikratis was the birthplace of the family of Cretan artist Kostas Mountakis.

Located at an altitude of 540 meters, the village and was named by Manoussos Kallikrates, who in 1453, with 1500 men and five ships, led a campaign to defend the area from the Ottomans

Kallikrates is accessible either through the village of Asfendou from the west, Asi Gonia from the east or from the windy road which starts north of the village of "Kapsodasos" and ends in the plateau of Kallikrates. Southwest of the plateau is Kallikratis Gorge, which leads to the village of Patsianos. The gorge is 4 km in length.

Kallikratis has a long tradition of participation in liberation struggles. During the Cretan revolution of 1867, Turkish forces under the command of Omer Pasha tried unsuccessfully to invade Sfakia via Kallikratis.

During the German Occupation, Resistance forces had installed a radio in the Anemospilios cave near Kallikrates. The partisan George Psychoundakis in his book, "Cretan runner" states that he had remained hidden in the cave in the spring of 1942, aided by locals.

In 1943, the paramilitary group of Fritz Schubert (a branch of the German Wehrmacht) looted and burned the village and executed more than 30 people in retaliation for the participation of local people in resistance against the Nazis.

Now that "Kallikratis" is the new benchmark of local government reform, the Sfakian Kallikratis remains a proud corner of Crete.


Translated from Ana-Mpa