In the Footsteps of Zeus

The route has a total length of 21 kilometers and takes about 45 minutes by car or motorcycle, without stops. A guide may be required at Psychro Cave—the Idaean Cave. The route is of interest year-round to visitors keen on history, culture, nature, winter sports, and good food.

On the Lasithi Plateau—where the wind still turns the old windmills and the land has produced for centuries in its own distinctive way—a route begins that smells of sage, listens for Zeus, and tells stories. From Pinakiano and Lagou to Tzermiado and Psychro with the famed Diktean Cave, where Zeus was born, and from Kaminaki to Vidiani Monastery, every stop feels majestic. On the Limnakaro plateau and up to the Afentis summit you will encounter unique landscapes, while at Seli Ambelou you will admire the plain and the windmills. If you wish to get to know this land in depth—living to the rhythm of the earth and the four seasons—stay at one of the many welcoming agritourism lodgings and enjoy distinctive dishes in the numerous tavernas of the plateau’s traditional settlements.

Gastronomy here reflects the place itself. The renowned Lasithi potatoes take center stage. Sofegada, a hymn to summer vegetables, captures the plateau’s bounty. On the table you will always find the local graviera—pure poetry—mizithra, barley rusk, and tsikoudia, which accompanies every gathering and conversation.

On the Plateau, every stop is a celebration—a celebration of land, memory, and taste—leaving you with the sense of meeting a place where earth and people continue to create unique products you will easily find everywhere: cheeses, meats, potatoes, vegetables, honey, walnuts, apples, and pears.

Route products

PDO products: Graviera Kritis, Xinomizithra Kritis, Pine-thyme honey of Crete.
PGI products: Cretan rusk.

Special products: Plateau potatoes, Avrakonte zucchini, firikia apples, asprokolia beans, walnuts, almonds, pears, wild greens, thyme honey, sausages, and local meats.

Route delicacies

Pork with potatoes in a wood-fired oven: Potatoes are the hallmark of the Lasithi Plateau. Produced in quantity and, thanks to soil and climate, of unique flavor. When potatoes meet pork, olive oil, and local aromatics in a Lasithi wood-fired oven, the aromas and flavors soar—for locals and visitors alike.

Sofegada: A dish that perfectly expresses residents’ bond with their garden and its vegetables. Potatoes, zucchini, green beans, eggplants, peppers, vlita (amaranth greens), and other wild greens go into the pot or oven and are cooked in abundant olive oil, offering a rich and distinctive taste.