12 Day Greece Itinerary

12 day Greece itinerary plans link small-group trips on Crete with outings to Rhodes, Kos, Chios and Lesbos. Each trip runs with a local host, on the islands and in their towns. On Crete, topics run from Lake Agia and the Arkalochori cave to the Armenoi cemetery and Eleutherna museum. Agarathos, Gouverneto and Agia Triada monasteries follow, with Saint Mark’s Basilica and two museums near Heraklion. Related reading covers a 2 week Greece itinerary, Crete tours and the Dodecanese islands. Wider choices sit under Greece tours.

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What is a 12 day Greece itinerary?

12 day Greece itinerary is a term for a plan of twelve days of travel through Greece. The word itinerary means a list of the places a journey takes in, set out in order. Greece itself runs from 19 to 28 degrees of longitude east.

Longitude gives the east and west position of a place on Earth. A 12 day Greece itinerary sits in a country whose sea zone totals 505,572 square kilometres. That zone is called an Exclusive Economic Zone, where a state holds special rights over fish. Each square kilometre equals a block one kilometre long and one wide.

For a 12 day Greece itinerary, Crete stands out as the biggest Greek island. Across the Eastern Mediterranean, only Cyprus is larger. That region is the far east of the Mediterranean. From its western tip to its eastern tip, Crete runs for 260 km. Its greatest width from north to south is 60 km.

On a 12 day Greece itinerary, Crete faces the Sea of Crete along its north coast. The Libyan Sea washes the south, the Myrtoan Sea the west, and the Karpathion Sea the east. Inland, the mountains hold fertile plateaus, among them Lasithi, Omalos and Nidha. A plateau is raised land with a broad, flat top.

• Coastline: Crete has a coastline of 1046 km, washed by four named seas.
• River: The Ieropotamos is one of the rivers of Crete, found in the island’s south.
• Northern tip: Ormenio village marks the northern extreme point of the whole of Greece.

A 12 day Greece itinerary that adds Crete meets one mountain range. That range runs the length of the island, west to east. Three subranges together form the chain. A subrange is a smaller group of peaks inside a larger range.

Which wildlife story does Lake Agia give a 12 day Greece itinerary in western Crete?

A 12 day Greece itinerary on Crete has Lake Agia, an artificial lake from the early 20th century. It lies 9 kilometres west of Chania, beside the village of Agia. Artificial means made by people. The lake takes its name from that village.

The site was once a swamp, and it became a lake in the 1920s. The water served a hydroelectric power plant, which no longer works. Hydroelectric means producing electricity from moving water. The Small Hydroelectric Station of Agia worked between 1929 and 2005, a span of 76 years. The station building then became a museum.

On a 12 day Greece itinerary, Lake Agia spreads over 450,000 square metres. The surface lies 34 metres above sea level, a height called its altitude. 130 plant species grow at the lake. Reedbeds, thick stands of tall grasses, cover much of its bank. Willows and plane trees form a waterside wood.

For a 12 day Greece itinerary, Lake Agia ranks as a leading site for the birds of Crete. Over 200 species have been seen there. They include the purple heron, the ferruginous duck and Eleonora’s falcon. A heron is a long-legged bird that wades in shallow water. A falcon is a swift hunting bird with pointed wings.

• Protection: Natura 2000, the protected-area network of the European Union, bans fishing and hunting here.
• Frogs: American bullfrogs released in 2000 have almost pushed out the smaller Cretan frogs.
• Mammals: Hedgehogs, European hares, least weasels and beech martens all live at the lake.

A 12 day Greece itinerary meets a lake ringed by farmland at Lake Agia. Farmland cuts it off from forests and shrublands. As a result, two large mammals, the Cretan ibex and Cretan wildcat, are absent. An ibex is a wild mountain goat.

How does Arkalochori fit into a 12 day Greece itinerary across central Crete?

A 12 day Greece itinerary finds a Minoan chapter at Arkalochori, in central Crete. The town lies 32 km south of Heraklion. Minoan refers to the Bronze Age civilisation of early Crete. The town contains the site of a Minoan sacred cave.

Within a 12 day Greece itinerary, Arkalochori sits in the Heraklion regional unit of Crete. Such a unit is one district inside a wider Greek region. The town stands at the western rim of the Minoa Pediada plain, with the Lasithi plateau further east. The 2021 census counted 8,547 people in its municipal unit.

On a 12 day Greece itinerary, Arkalochori adds a cave of Minoan worship. That worship ran from the third millennium until about 1450 BCE. At that time its natural ceiling fell in, sealing part of the offerings. In 1912 peasants gathered 20 kilos of Bronze Age weapons there. They sold the metal for scrap in Candia, now Heraklion.

In 1934 a child found a gold labrys that a rabbit had dug up. A labrys is an axe with two blades. Spyridon Marinatos then found hundreds of bronze axes, along with 25 gold and 7 silver ones. A bronze long sword reached 1.055 m, the longest of its kind discovered in Europe.

• Local name: People in the area knew the cave as the treasure hole.
• Offerings: After the collapse, people still left votive offerings, gifts for a god, at the cave mouth.
• Race: Each October the town hosts the Crete Half Marathon, a long running race.

Along a 12 day Greece itinerary, Arkalochori lies 3 km south of a Minoan palace at Galatas. Galatas is a small village. The hill of the cave has remained a sacred place. Today people link it with the prophet Elias.

What does the Armenoi cemetery tell a 12 day Greece itinerary about Minoan Crete?

A 12 day Greece itinerary meets Minoan burial customs at Armenoi. This cemetery lies about 8 km south of Rethymno. A cemetery is ground set aside for burying the dead. It stands near the peak sanctuary of Vrysinas, a Minoan holy site.

On a 12 day Greece itinerary, the burials at Armenoi date mainly from about 1470 to 1200 BC. The site covers about 35 acres. An acre is an old British unit of land area. Experts rate it as the best preserved Minoan cemetery so far excavated. Only four tombs had suffered looting when Minoan times ended.

Yiannis Tzedakis has led digging at Armenoi since 1969. His team has found 232 chamber tombs, plus a single tholos tomb. A chamber tomb is a room cut into rock, reached by a sloping entrance. A tholos is a round tomb built of stone. The chamber tombs face east, towards the peak sanctuary at Vrysinas.

On a 12 day Greece itinerary, Armenoi has painted larnakes, small clay coffins, in certain tombs. One shows a hunt: two stags, four dogs and an agrimi, which is the wild goat of Crete. Cups held traces of Greek grog, a drink of grains, honey, herbs and fruit. The tombs held the remains of over 1000 people.

• Lifespan: Scholars estimate that people buried there died at an average age of 30 to 35.
• Town: Excavators place the town that used the cemetery at the modern village of Kastellos.
• Imports: An ivory comb from the tombs is thought to come from Egypt or Syria.

A 12 day Greece itinerary that adds Armenoi reaches a site with little damage. Minor harm came from a German army fortification built in the Second World War. Badgers also used a number of tombs as dens, which are animal homes.

Why does the Museum of Ancient Eleutherna belong in a 12 day Greece itinerary near Rethymno?

A 12 day Greece itinerary meets ancient Eleutherna through the on-site museum in its archaeological park. An on-site museum stands beside the ruins it explains. It houses finds from the city and the necropolis of Orthi Petra. Necropolis means city of the dead.

On a 12 day Greece itinerary, Eleutherna counts as an ancient city-state of Crete. In such a state, one town and its farmland formed a separate country. Eleutherna thrived from the Greek Dark Ages into Byzantine times. Its burial ground has yielded fine jewellery, weapons and objects of glass, faience and ivory. Faience is a glazed ceramic material.

Within a 12 day Greece itinerary, this is the fourth Greek museum devoted to one site. The earlier three serve Olympia, Delphi and Vergina. Its exhibits span three and a half millennia, from 3000 BC to 1300 AD. A millennium means a span of a thousand years. The objects show art and daily life across those ages.

Room A shows objects brought from places such as Attica, Cyprus, Phoenicia and Egypt. Room B covers worship in Eleutherna from the early Iron Age to Byzantine times. It also holds the archaic sculpture called the Lady of Eleutherna. Archaic refers to the Greek period before the Classical age.

• Digital displays: Room A also contains digital installations beside its imported objects from abroad.
• Homeric burial: Room C presents Orthi Petra burial customs, like the funeral fire of Patroclus in the Iliad.
• Shield: A bronze shield ranks as a prominent exhibit among the finds from the necropolis.

Along a 12 day Greece itinerary, Eleutherna has been dug since the mid 1980s. The University of Crete supervised that work from its start. It continues to the present day under Professor Nikolaos Stampolidis. A professor holds the highest teaching rank at a university.

Which history does Agarathos Monastery bring to a 12 day Greece itinerary in the Heraklion region?

A 12 day Greece itinerary on Crete counts Agarathos Monastery among the oldest religious houses of the island. It stands 538 metres above sea level, about 24 km east of Heraklion. A monastery houses a community of monks who live by religious rules.

Officially, the monastery honours the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. The Assumption is the belief that Mary was taken up into heaven. The name Agarathos comes from a Jerusalem sage bush, called agarathia in the Cretan dialect. Tradition says an old icon of Mary was found under that bush. An icon is a religious picture used in Orthodox worship.

On a 12 day Greece itinerary, Agarathos has no known founding year. Scholars place its start between 961 and 1205, in the second Byzantine period. The Kallergis family first owned it. The earliest written mention dates from 1532. Under Venice it grew very wealthy, and a large share of its monks came from Kythira.

For a 12 day Greece itinerary, Agarathos lists important figures among its past monks. Cyril Lucaris and Meletius Pegas were two of them. The 2001 census recorded 19 monks living there. Its storerooms and old olive mill now hold a church museum. An olive mill is a building where olives are pressed for oil.

• Main church: The katholikon, the main church, is divided into two naves, or long halls, and opened in 1894.
• Protection: In 1935 the church was declared a monument worth preserving.
• Old chapel: An old church of Saint Raphael stands just outside the monastery courtyard.

Along a 12 day Greece itinerary, Agarathos stands near the village of Sgourokefali, in central Crete. The monastery is built in a fortified style. Fortified means strengthened with thick walls against attack. Sgourokefali is part of the Episkopi municipal unit.

What makes Gouverneto Monastery a fit for a 12 day Greece itinerary on Akrotiri?

A 12 day Greece itinerary around Chania has Gouverneto Monastery on the Akrotiri peninsula. The monastery lies about 19 kilometres from Chania. Peninsula names land surrounded by sea except on one side. Gouverneto is a Greek Orthodox monastery, a home for monks.

On a 12 day Greece itinerary, Gouverneto ranks by repute among the oldest monasteries in Crete. Work on it ended in 1537, though other sources give 1548. A census in 1637, before the Turkish invasion, counted 60 monks. That figure placed it among the largest monasteries in Crete at the time.

The monastery takes the form of a Venetian-style fortress with a tower at each end. Venetian-style means built in the manner used by Venice. Baroque Revival touches were added later. Baroque Revival is a return to a richly decorated European style. The complex measures about 40 by 50 metres. Its two floors hold rooms for about 50 monks.

For a 12 day Greece itinerary, Gouverneto has a domed church with an ornate Venetian front. It rises in the rectangular courtyard and honours the Virgin Mary. Reports credit the courtyard chapel with frescoes among the earliest on Crete. Frescoes are painted straight onto fresh, damp plaster. Ornate means richly decorated.

• Carvings: Monsters carved in relief, raised from the stone, decorate the front of the church.
• War years: German troops placed a guardhouse in the monastery during the Second World War.
• Restoration: Since 2005 the monks themselves have carried out restoration work on the buildings.

Within a 12 day Greece itinerary, Gouverneto keeps two chapels in its western narthex, or entrance hall. One honours Saint John the Hermit. The other honours the Ten Holy Martyrs. A martyr is a person killed for refusing to give up a faith.

Where does Agia Triada Monastery sit within a 12 day Greece itinerary around Chania?

A 12 day Greece itinerary in the Chania region can count Agia Triada Monastery on the Akrotiri peninsula. Its full name is Agia Triada Tsangarolon. Besides the church, the complex holds a museum. The monks also make wine and olive oil there.

On a 12 day Greece itinerary, Agia Triada’s main church follows the Byzantine cruciform style. It carries three domes. Cruciform means shaped like a cross. Byzantine means of the eastern Roman state. Beside it stand two smaller chapels, each with a dome. One honours the Life-Giving Spring, or Zoodochos Pigi, and the other Saint John the Theologian.

For a 12 day Greece itinerary, Agia Triada has a main entrance framed by columns. Two large Doric columns and one smaller Corinthian column stand on each side. Doric and Corinthian are styles of column from ancient Greece. A Greek inscription on the front is dated to 1631. The cellar door is older still, dated to 1613.

From 1833 the monastery served as an important theological school. Theology is the study of religious belief. The belfry, or bell tower, is dated to 1864. Conflicts with the Turks later caused heavy damage to the buildings. In 1892 a seminary opened there, a college that trains priests.

• Old icon: A portable icon of Saint John the Theologian in the museum dates to around 1500.
• Parchment roll: The museum keeps a manuscript of the mass of Saint Basil on a parchment roll.
• Library: The library contains rare books, beside museum collections of icons and codices, or early bound books.

Within a 12 day Greece itinerary, the Agia Triada museum also holds icons from the 19th century. They include Saint John the Precursor, from 1846, and The Tree of Jesse, from 1853. The Precursor is a name for John the Baptist.

What past does Saint Mark’s Basilica hold for a 12 day Greece itinerary in Heraklion?

A 12 day Greece itinerary in Heraklion has Saint Mark’s Basilica, set in Eleftheriou Venizelou Square. It began as a Roman Catholic church under Venetian rule. Local lords and officials were its main users. A basilica is a long church with aisles along its sides.

Its first stone was laid by the Latin bishop of Ierapetra. Latin here means Roman Catholic. Yet the building belonged to the duke of Candia, not to the bishop. Ducal decrees were read out at its entrance. Ducal means issued by the duke. The duke’s family members lie buried in its yard.

On a 12 day Greece itinerary, Saint Mark’s is a church hit hard in the 1303 earthquake. In the Cretan War of 1645 to 1669, its bell tower worked as an observatory. Unlike other towers in the city, it had a flat, battlemented top and a clock. Battlements are walls with gaps along the top of a tower.

After the Ottoman conquest of 1669, it became a mosque until 1915. Muslim worship takes place in a mosque. After 1924, it served at first as a cinema. In the early 1950s, the council proposed a theatre or post office in its place. That plan was dropped for lack of funds.

• Gallery: For a 12 day Greece itinerary, the building has been a municipal art gallery since 1960.
• Conference: The first international meeting on Cretan studies took place here in 1961.
• Venetian doorway: A richly decorated doorway, taken from the Venetian palace of Ittar, now sits inside.

Within a 12 day Greece itinerary, Saint Mark’s stands restored, with work begun in 1956. The Society of Cretan History Studies led that work. It was the earliest restoration of a monument of Western design in Crete. Its central aisle is the widest, at 6.6 metres.

How does the Historical Museum of Crete widen a 12 day Greece itinerary into later centuries?

A 12 day Greece itinerary built around Heraklion has the Historical Museum of Crete. Its permanent collections follow the island from the 4th century AD through the Second World War. AD counts years after the birth of Christ. They trace its art and history.

This museum holds ceramics, sculptures, coins and jewellery. Wall paintings, portable icons and ritual objects sit beside them. Ritual objects are items used in religious ceremonies. Manuscripts, heirlooms and weavings complete the range. An heirloom is an object handed down through a family. The museum has also rebuilt the interior of a Cretan rural home.

For a 12 day Greece itinerary, the museum also holds two paintings by El Greco. The painter was born on Crete as Domenikos Theotokopoulos. His name El Greco means the Greek. One painting is View of Mount Sinai, from 1570 to 1572. The other is Baptism of Christ, from about 1567 to 1569.

On a 12 day Greece itinerary, a model of Chandax, old Heraklion, covers 4 by 4 metres. It shows the city at its Venetian peak in the mid-17th century. The Nikos Kazantzakis Collection keeps the writer’s personal effects and manuscripts of his works. It adds first editions of his books in a range of languages.

• Changing shows: Temporary rooms host exhibitions, such as one on the poet Odysseas Elytis in 2012.
• Library: The museum library keeps rare editions, archives and photographs for study.
• Modern wing: Since its founding, the museum has grown with the addition of a modern wing.

Within a 12 day Greece itinerary, this museum dates from 1953. Its founder was the Society of Cretan Historical Studies. Its first home was the former house of Minos Kalokairinos. The collections combine objects with visual material and multimedia. Multimedia means sound, film and screens combined.

Whose life does the Nikos Kazantzakis Museum present on a 12 day Greece itinerary south of Heraklion?

A 12 day Greece itinerary near Heraklion has the Nikos Kazantzakis Museum in Myrtia village. Myrtia lies 20 km south of Heraklion. The museum honours the life and work of the writer Nikos Kazantzakis. Kazantzakis stood as a Nobel candidate in literature 9 times.

For a 12 day Greece itinerary, the Myrtia museum was created in 1983. Myrtia was the ancestral village of Kazantzakis. Ancestral means of earlier family generations. It was also home to the family of the founder, George Anemogiannis. He worked as a scenographer and costume designer. A scenographer designs the sets for plays.

Within a 12 day Greece itinerary, the building had a full renovation in 2009. Today it shows 650 exhibits in a modern style. They fall into five thematic sections, each built around one theme. One section is called The Odyssey of Kazantzakis. Another covers novels and travel books. A short documentary on his life runs in 11 languages.

The Kazantzakis archive began in 1976, set up by Anemogiannis. The writer’s wife, Eleni Samiou-Kazantzakis, donated a large part of his papers and belongings. It now holds about 50,000 objects and documents in ten collections. Anemogiannis passed on his theatre archive, with studies of more than four hundred performances.

• Famous books: Readers worldwide know his book Zorba the Greek, and also The Last Temptation of Christ.
• Knossos link: Myrtia village lies only 11 kilometres away from the ancient site of Knossos.
• Research: The museum runs a research library that supports study of the writer’s work.

On a 12 day Greece itinerary, the Myrtia museum also runs educational programmes for school groups. It plans activities for children, adults, families, teachers and young people. It holds events such as conferences, workshops, festivals and concerts. It also issues printed and digital publications.

How does the Etz Hayyim Synagogue connect a 12 day Greece itinerary to Jewish Crete?

A 12 day Greece itinerary in Chania has Etz Hayyim, an Orthodox Jewish synagogue and congregation. Jewish people gather in a synagogue for prayer. A congregation is the group that worships there. The building was first a church, then a synagogue from the 17th century.

The building stood unused and fell to ruin after July 1944. That month saw the deportation of the Jewish people of Chania. Deportation means forcing people to leave a place. Restoration work brought the synagogue back during the late 1990s. Its mikveh, a pool for ritual bathing in Jewish practice, was restored with it.

On a 12 day Greece itinerary, Etz Hayyim counts as a tourist destination since its restoration. It has drawn foreign dignitaries, meaning high-ranking official guests. Queen Sofía of Spain and King Constantine II of Greece came in March 2006. Their visit was unannounced, so no notice was given beforehand. Christians and Muslims are welcome too.

Within a 12 day Greece itinerary, the synagogue relies on an international team for congregation work. At times a rabbi comes to the community. A rabbi is a teacher and leader in Jewish religious life. During Jewish holidays, someone able to blow the shofar can also come. A shofar is a ram’s horn blown like a trumpet.

• Fires: In January 2010 two fires struck the synagogue, and the first was quickly contained.
• Lost books: The second fire burned 2,500 rare books and manuscripts held in the building.
• Old community: Etz Hayyim alone survives from the Romaniote, or old Greek, Jewish community of Crete.

Along a 12 day Greece itinerary, Etz Hayyim stands apart, since almost all its congregants are not Jewish. Locals see the building as a symbol of coexistence. Coexistence means people of different faiths sharing one town in peace and respect.

For a 12 day Greece itinerary, what does the Acropolis of Rhodes add?

A 12 day Greece itinerary spans a land where Rhodes keeps a 5th century BC upper town. This Acropolis of Rhodes lies 3 kilometres south-west of the modern city centre. Unlike other acropoleis, or hilltop upper towns, it never had a walled citadel.

When floods struck in 316 BC, this upper town sheltered people escaping the drowned city centre. An earthquake hit in 228 BC, and donors across the Greek world helped fund the rebuilding. Lucian, a second-century AD author, called Rhodes the city of Helius, as fair as that god.

An Italian school of archaeology based in Athens led the first digs here, from 1912 to 1945. For a 12 day Greece itinerary, the Acropolis Archaeological Park spans 12,500 square metres of protected ground. One temple, shared by Athena Polias and Zeus Polieus, once held written treaties between Rhodes and other states.

Four grottoes cut into the rock, called nymphaea, served for worship and for leisure. Their name links them with nymphs, nature spirits tied to caves and water. The small marble odeon, a theatre for music, held about 800 spectators. For a 12 day Greece itinerary, the stadium recalls the Haleion Games, an athletic festival for Helios.

• Starting gear: The stadium still keeps the starting apparatus once used to launch its athletic events.
• Artemis shrine: The cult of the goddess Artemis had its place of worship on the hill’s north-east side.
• Stoa: Just one foundation wall now remains of the stoa, a long hall with columns.

Built largely in Hellenistic times, the era that followed Alexander the Great, the monuments rest on stepped terraces. For a 12 day Greece itinerary, the site lacks two buildings: its theatre and Helios temple. Both are thought to lie nearby, yet neither has been found.

Which past does Panagia tou Kastrou give a 12 day Greece itinerary in Rhodes?

A 12 day Greece itinerary unfolds in a nation whose island of Rhodes holds Panagia tou Kastrou. The name honours the Castle’s Virgin. This medieval Greek Orthodox church is the island’s largest surviving Byzantine church. Byzantine means built under the eastern Roman Empire.

Builders raised it as an Orthodox church around the eleventh century. When the Knights Hospitaller took Rhodes, it became the cathedral of the Latins, or Western Catholics. The Knights Hospitaller were a Catholic order of knights. For a 12 day Greece itinerary, its Latin name was Sancta Maria Castelli Rodi.

Work early in the 14th century reshaped the building, possibly after the 1303 earthquake. Funds were short, so Pope John XXII seems to have paid for the repairs. For a 12 day Greece itinerary, his coat of arms was then set beside the Grand Master’s. The Grand Master led the whole order.

After the Ottoman capture in 1522, the building became a mosque named Enderun Mosque. It kept that role until after the Second World War. Italy, then ruling Rhodes, handed the island to Greece in 1947 through the Treaty of Paris. Workers then removed its portico and its minaret, the tall prayer tower. It became a church again.

• Location: Its site lies on the Street of the Knights, at the east end, near the seaport.
• Gothic plan: Under the Knights, it took the form of a long, three-aisled Gothic hall church.
• Sea tower: Its eastern side joins the sea wall and takes the outer form of a tower.

For a 12 day Greece itinerary, the courtyard outside holds a fountain added in 1881. On the south wall, a figure of Saint Lucia is thought to be by a Western European artist. The siege of 1480 had earlier left the church badly damaged.

On a 12 day Greece itinerary, how does the Holy Trinity Church of Rhodes fit in?

A 12 day Greece itinerary is set in a land whose medieval Rhodes holds the Holy Trinity Church. This Greek Orthodox church sits along the Street of the Knights. Inside the medieval town, it is one of two churches named for the Holy Trinity.

Builders put it up between 1365 and 1374, and at first it honoured Archangel Michael. Archangels rank highest among angels in Christian teaching. The Knights Hospitaller raised it, so it served the Catholic faith. In its first form, it was a single room, thought to be roofed by one arch.

Under Ottoman Turkish rule, it served as a mosque named Khan Zade Mescidi. A mescit, in Turkish, is a small mosque. Its elliptical, or oval, dome was added after that change. For a 12 day Greece itinerary, the building returned to Orthodox use after the Second World War. That came when Greece annexed the Dodecanese islands.

Inside, the arch shows a rare theme in church art, the Throne of Grace. Here the Ancient of Days, a name for God, sits enthroned holding the crucifix. A crucifix is a cross bearing the figure of Christ. On a 12 day Greece itinerary, the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist flank this scene.

• Coats of arms: Over the main entrance, the arms of the Holy See sit framed by those of England.
• Murals: Only a small number of wall paintings survive, much treated by Italian conservation work.
• Painting date: The wall paintings were completed around the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries.

The church’s semi-cylinder, a curved wall section, is painted with concelebrating saints. To concelebrate is to lead one church service together with other priests. For a 12 day Greece itinerary, this church lies in the medieval town, in the island’s north-east.

What links a 12 day Greece itinerary to the Murat Reis Mosque?

A 12 day Greece itinerary takes place in a country where old Rhodes keeps the Murat Reis Mosque. This former mosque in the walled town was completed around 1623. It honours Murat Reis the Elder, a leading admiral of the Ottoman fleet.

Ebubekir Pasha raised it on the site of an older church of Saint Anthony. A pasha was a high Ottoman official. Murat Reis served as admiral in the age of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. For a 12 day Greece itinerary, his grave in the yard became a place of deep reverence.

Pilgrims crossed from the Anatolian coast as well as from Rhodes itself. Anatolia means the Asian mainland of present-day Turkey. A pilgrim makes a journey to a sacred site for faith. They brought lamps and offerings to the tomb. By custom, animals were slain near the grave, and the meat went to the poor.

Mourabıt Hassan Bey restored the building in 1797-1798, and he too was later buried there. An inscription over the door records this repair. Bombardment in the Italo-Turkish War destroyed the first minaret in 1912. Within a 12 day Greece itinerary, its present minaret is the Italian rebuild, restored again in 1993.

• Prayer hall: The former prayer hall has a square floor plan crowned by a dome.
• Portico: A porch of three arches on the north-west side holds up the wooden ceiling.
• Old graves: Three officers of Suleiman, thought to have died in the 1522 conquest, lie in the yard.

So the ground held graves a hundred years before the mosque went up. In 2013 the mausoleum, a grand tomb building, collapsed in severe weather. For a 12 day Greece itinerary, restoration has begun to turn it into a music school.

Within a 12 day Greece itinerary, where does the Loggia Mosque of Kos sit?

A 12 day Greece itinerary belongs to Greece, where Kos town keeps the Gazi Hasan Pasha Mosque. Locals call it the Loggia Mosque. This former mosque stands right beside the legendary Tree of Hippocrates. Hippocrates was an ancient Greek physician, or doctor.

Its sponsor, Gazi Hasan Pasha, served the Ottoman Empire as admiral and Grand Vizier in the eighteenth century. A Grand Vizier was the sultan’s chief minister. He also paid for a mosque of the same name in Platani. Local tradition holds that the building first served Christians as a church of Saint George.

Builders took marble and stone from a ruined three-aisled basilica by the port. A basilica is a long hall church. More material came from the Baptistry of Saint John, known as the Seven Steps. A baptistry is a building for baptism. For a 12 day Greece itinerary, the mosque measures 23 by 17 metres over two storeys.

On a 12 day Greece itinerary, the main prayer room of this mosque sits on the first floor. Over an inner arch, carved marble quotes a verse of the Qur’an, the holy book of Islam. A raised wooden gallery for women lines the western wall. Below, eight narrow rooms once housed local people and were later used for storage.

• Fountain: A fourteen-sided fountain of white marble stands north of the main building.
• Fountain dome: Seven arches and columns hold up the dome that covers the fountain.
• Roof: Workers rebuilt the square tiled roof of the mosque in 1996.

The 2017 Aegean Sea earthquake damaged both the minaret and the fountain. A minaret, the slim tower of a mosque, carries the call to prayer. For a 12 day Greece itinerary, the main building still awaits a large restoration campaign.

Which story ties a 12 day Greece itinerary to the island of Psara?

A 12 day Greece itinerary crosses a country whose small island of Psara lies in the North Aegean. Psara and the islet of Antipsara make up one municipality. Here a municipality means one local council area. The 2021 census counted 420 people living on Psara.

Long before any 12 day Greece itinerary, Homer and Strabo called the island Psyra. People have lived on Psara since the Mycenaean period, the late Bronze Age, by working the sea. The land is rocky and treeless. An old proverb mocked Psyra as a poor island that made no wine of its own.

Fishing, chiefly for slipper lobsters, and shipping have long fed the islanders. A slipper lobster is a flat lobster without big claws. In the 16th century, returning islanders settled around the Palaiokastro fort and repaired it. By the early 19th century, Psara owned Greece’s third largest merchant fleet, after Hydra and Spetses.

For a 12 day Greece itinerary, Psara’s famous revolutionary flag dates from 1824, made by local people. It was white cloth with a red border. It also bore red symbols of the Filiki Eteria, a secret society. Red capital letters on it read Freedom or Death. An original 1824 flag survives at the National Historical Museum of Greece.

• Size: The island measures about 7 by 8 kilometres and covers 43 square kilometres.
• Summit: Profitis Ilias, the highest point on Psara, rises to 512 metres.
• Name: English calls a person born on Psara a Psariot or a Psarian.

On a 12 day Greece itinerary, Psara is an island the Greek navy recaptured on 21 October 1912. That came in the First Balkan War, fought against the Ottoman Empire. Ioannis Varvakis, an admiral, caviar merchant and benefactor, was a native of Psara.

For a 12 day Greece itinerary, what history does the Castle of Chios hold?

A 12 day Greece itinerary moves across a country where Chios town keeps a medieval citadel. A citadel is a town’s fortress. The Castle of Chios guards the northern edge of the harbour. It is low and solid, built of reddish-brown stone.

The Byzantines began the first phase of the castle in the 10th century. Traders from Genoa held Chios between the 14th and 16th centuries. The surviving walls come from Genoese and Venetian rule, and the earliest inscribed date is 1404. Within a 12 day Greece itinerary, the fortified quarter housed the garrison, officials and Jewish community.

An earthquake in 1389 brought the walls down and damaged houses inside. Leonardo d’Andrea, an architect from Ragusa, rebuilt them from the foundations in 1401 and 1402. Ragusa is the old name of Dubrovnik. He raised a second wall inside the first, a triple outer defence and a double moat.

A Venetian fleet under Antonio Zeno held Chios from September 1694 to February 1695. The north-east tower they rebuilt was later called the Torrione Zeno. On a 12 day Greece itinerary, the castle’s church of Saint George stands on the main street. In 1566 Piyale Pasha, an Ottoman admiral, made it the Eski, or Old, Mosque.

• Siege of 1430: The Genoese garrison held out against a major Venetian assault in 1430.
• Entrances: Three main gates served the castle, one of them a water-gate on the harbour.
• Baths: Turkish baths with vaulted roofs survive in the castle’s northern part.

Rebuilt after the 1881 earthquake, the Eski Mosque was later turned back into a church, Aghios Georgios. For a 12 day Greece itinerary, the nearby Bayrakli Mosque dates from 1891 to 1892. It is thought to stand where Giovanni Giustiniani Longo, defender of Constantinople in 1453, was buried.

In a 12 day Greece itinerary, which goddess does Daskalopetra honour?

A 12 day Greece itinerary runs through a country where Chios keeps Daskalopetra, a rock-cut shrine. A shrine is a modest sacred spot. It honours the goddess Cybele and lies near Vrontados. The shrine dates to the late sixth or early fifth century BC.

It is thought to be the earliest known cult site, or place of worship, of Cybele among Greeks. Cybele came into the Greek world from Phrygia in the sixth century BC. Phrygia was an ancient land in what is now central Turkey. The shrine was carved from a natural rock formation beside a spring.

For a 12 day Greece itinerary, its niche holds a female figure who faces east. A niche is a shallow hollow cut into a wall or rock. She sits with her feet resting on a footstool. Early travellers reported a lion on her lap, but the worn image no longer shows it.

Beside the niche stand two pillars, each with a base shaped like a lion’s paw. They hold up a low pediment, the triangular top of a classical front. Each outer side wall shows a striding lion carved into the stone. On a 12 day Greece itinerary, its building details follow the Ionian style of eastern Greeks.

• Altar: Opposite the niche, a bench cut into the rock is thought to have served as an altar.
• Benches: Two more rock-cut benches frame the space on the north and south sides.
• Phrygian link: Phrygian images of Cybele are also cut into rock, set in niches, and show lions.

Votive offerings to Cybele, gifts left for a god, are known from before this shrine. For a 12 day Greece itinerary, its figure counts as the earliest known cult image of Cybele. A cult image is the sacred figure at the heart of worship.

How does Mytilene’s Yeni Mosque relate to a 12 day Greece itinerary on Lesbos?

A 12 day Greece itinerary ranges over a land where Mytilene, on Lesbos, keeps the Yeni Mosque. Its Turkish name means New Mosque. Local governor Mustafa Agha Koulaxiz built it in 1825, and today the former mosque stands in partial ruins.

The Ottomans took Mytilene on 14 September 1462, after a siege of two weeks. Once piracy ended in the 18th century, the town grew into a busy port. The port linked Constantinople, Smyrna and Alexandria, great cities of the Ottoman Empire. For a 12 day Greece itinerary, the Yeni Mosque was the largest and newest on Lesbos.

Koulaxiz, its sponsor, was a tax collector as well as governor. The mosque rose in the bazaar district, where Muslims kept their shops. A bazaar is a market quarter of shops. For a 12 day Greece itinerary, its address is Ermou street in Epano Skala, the old Turkish quarter.

In 1923 the Muslim community had to leave Lesbos under the population exchange agreed by Greece and Turkey. Rural Muslims stayed in the mosque briefly, and then it stood empty for decades. Its dome fell in 1951, and parts of its materials were looted and sold. Locals opposed plans to demolish it, so the building survived.

• Complex: A madrasa, or Islamic school, and the mansion of the mufti, a Muslim legal expert, stood nearby.
• Listing: The Hellenic Ministry of Culture first classed the mosque as a monument in 1956.
• Volunteers: In 2011, 35 volunteers from the Aeolistas civic group cleaned the mosque.

Greece has five preserved examples of the quatrefoil plan, and this mosque is one. A quatrefoil plan has four rounded lobes. For a 12 day Greece itinerary, its high-drum dome stands far from the outer walls. The design blends Ottoman and Byzantine elements.

In what way does a 12 day Greece itinerary gain from Skala Sykaminea?

A 12 day Greece itinerary stretches across a country where Lesbos keeps Skala Sykaminea, a small fishing village. It sits on the island’s northern coast. The village lies 49 kilometres north-west of Mytilene, the capital of the island.

For centuries, people from Sykaminea, a stone village uphill, used this shore as their harbour. Sykaminea sits about 3 kilometres up the slopes of Mount Lepetymnos. A permanent village grew here after the 1922-1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey. That exchange was a compulsory transfer of about 2 million people in January 1923.

A small Orthodox church, Panagia Gorgona, sits on a large rock at the harbour’s edge. For a 12 day Greece itinerary, its name translates as the Mermaid Virgin Mary. The name comes from a sea folk icon showing the Virgin with mermaid features. The church inspired the writer Stratis Myrivilis to write The Mermaid Madonna, his 1948 novel.

Fishermen work from the curved harbour, landing daily catches and mending nets there. Their fresh fish goes to local and regional markets. For a 12 day Greece itinerary, the village lives mainly from small-scale fishing and seasonal tourism. Higher up, near Mount Lepetymnos and Sykaminea, villagers also make olive oil.

• Families: The village’s present people are mostly children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the 1922 refugees.
• Stone homes: Thick stone walls keep the houses cool through summer and hold heat through winter.
• Official status: After Ottoman rule ended, Skala Sykaminea was recognised as a settlement in 1920.

For a 12 day Greece itinerary, the village sits about 12 kilometres from the Aegean coast of Turkey. In the 1997 reform, it joined the former municipality of Mithymna. Since 2019, Skala Sykaminea has formed part of the West Lesvos municipality.

What do travellers ask about 12 day Greece itinerary, and what are the answers?

12 day Greece itinerary travel spans the Aegean. Mytilene, on Lesbos, has a bronze Statue of Liberty at its harbour. Samos keeps the Megali Panagia Monastery, also called Five Houses. Therma on Ikaria is a spa town, and Leipsoi lies between Samos and Leros.

Before a 12 day Greece itinerary, who made the Statue of Liberty in Mytilene?

The bronze statue is the work of the Greek sculptor Gregorios Zevgolis. He based it on a design by Georgios Jakobides, a painter from the island. Workers cast it in Germany in 1922. It was raised and dedicated in Mytilene in 1930. With its marble base, it stands 15 metres tall.

On a 12 day Greece itinerary, when was the Megali Panagia Monastery founded?

Two monks, Nilos and Dionysios, founded the monastery in 1586. Both had lived as monks on Mount Latmos in Asia Minor, near ancient Miletus. Its catholicon, the main church in the courtyard, is held to be the greatest temple on Samos. Its frescoes, or wall paintings, date from the 16th century.

For a 12 day Greece itinerary, what is known about the hot springs of Therma on Ikaria?

A University of Thessaloniki study found Greece’s largest radon concentration in Ikaria’s salty hot springs. Radon is a natural radioactive gas with no colour. The springs also rank among the world’s highest in radioactivity. Three springs work today in Therma, and their heat runs from 45 to 52.8 degrees Celsius.

In a 12 day Greece itinerary, how large is the Leipsi-Arkoi archipelago around Leipsoi?

An archipelago means a scattered set of islands. The Leipsi-Arkoi archipelago takes in about 37 islands and islets. Just three pass 1 square kilometre in size: Leipsoi, Arkoi and Agreloussa. Leipsoi itself covers 15.95 square kilometres. Near Kimissi, a paved path 960 metres long is carved into the hill.

Featured photo: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.