Mohos Village

This pretty mountain village is situated on the way to the upland part of Lassithi Plateau. The village has preserved much of its original character, with picturesque alleyways leading off into the village, flower filled courtyards, lovely white washed churches and chapels.

One of the main draws to Mohos is the beautiful church of Panayia with its impressive Byzantine icons, murals and wall paintings.

Travel into the main village square of Mohos to sit and have a light lunch or a frappe and enjoy the Cretan pace of life. If you travel up in the evening you can find some excellent Cretan dishes all at reasonable prices.

If you have a chance to visit Mohos on the weekends, you have a chance of seeing a traditional Cretan wedding, or maybe one of the organised Greek nights that the locals have during the summer months. Below is a few select pictures of Mohos taken by a very talented photographer, managing to capture the beauty of this mountain village.

Mohos and Krassi Village Guide

Mohos and Krassi are two small traditional villages that sit on Lassithi Plateau and are a wonderful example of traditional Greek villages. Tourism has not affected these small villages much at all.

You can find the village of Krassi by following the road that leads into Malia Old Town, then straight up into the mountains, it takes about 20 minutes to drive into Krassi. To find Mohos just head up the mountain from the main national highways instead of following it through to Heraklion.

Apart from the occasional souvenir shop life continues at a slow pace, with the men spending most of the day sitting in cafes playing backgammon and drinking coffee and the women at home looking after the children or making some exquisite blankets and linens you can find for sale around the villages.

Krassi Village - The home of Raki

Just a short drive up into the mountains from the resort of Malia you will find the quiet and tranquil village of Krassi. Krassi is the easternmost village in the prefecture of Heraklion.

Krassi is locate don the northern slopes of Mt. Selena at an altitude of 600m above sea level and has a population of only 350. It has in its centre a giant plane tree, which is proudly named the oldest tree in Crete.

Next to the oldest tree in Crete you will find a well that has crystal clear water running directly from the spring of Mount Selena. Next to this you will find a tiny little shop that sells assorted groceries and trinkets, but it also sells the national drink of Crete, which is Raki. A lot of people think its Ouzo but Cretans much prefer to sip on Raki after dinner or in the afternoon with cucumber slices.

Another famous export from the village of Krassi is the local wine, known as “Krassi Wine”. The wine is an acquired taste and comes in white and red form, it can taste quite bitter but the more you drink of this wine, the less you taste it, and before you know it you will be quite drunk off a few glasses.