Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "IMERI GRAMVOUSSA Island CHANIA".
Imeri Gramvousa contains the remains of a Venetian castle (1579). The castle, although built for 3,000 men, was never involved in a major battle. The Venetians handed it over to the Turks in 1692 -- 23 years after Iraklion fell.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from the Crete TOURnet URL below, which contains images.
On the NW coast of Crete the west coast of the gulf of Kissamos projects
northwards and forms a promontory that the ancients named Korykos Akran.
West of this tongue of land are two small rocky islets. The one north
of the promontory is Agriogramvoussa, south of it and to the west is Gramvoussa
itself.
Due to its strategic location, Gramvoussa was fortified by the Venetians,
who built a well-fortified castle on the top of a steepy rock at an altitude of
137 m. Construction on the castle of Gramvoussa started in 1579 and ended in 1582.
It was destroyed in 1588, however, when thunder struck on the powder store.The
castle was rebuilt in 1630.
It was one of the three castles to remain under Venetian dominion
after the Turkish occupation of Crete (the other two were those of Sitia and Spinalonga).
Even though the castle was impregnable, during the Venetian-Turkish
war the Italian commandant was bribed by the Turks and he gave over the castle
in 1692.
During the Greek uprising against the Turks, Gramvoussa played an
important and desicive role. After many attempts the castle was finally occupied
by the Cretan revolutionaries in 1825, when a team of Cretans disguised as Turks
entered the castle. Gramvoussa was the first part of Crete to be liberated by
the Turks.
The rocky island became a shelter for over 3000 people, and a base
of operations for the revolution teams. But it also became a base of pirates that
plundered every ship that passed to the seas around the island, so with the agreement
of the Greek Government a English-French garrison took over the island of Gramvoussa
in 1828. Today, the high walls of the Gramvoussa are preserved, half ruined but
awesome.
Opposite the island of Gramvoussa is the wonderful beach of Balos.
This text is cited September 2004 from the Interkriti URL below, which contains images.
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