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Leather hand Bags from Crete.

Its classically inspired design this shoulderbag from top quality l eather from Crete it gives inexpensive luxury in your daily life .

Without final chemical finishing the leather affected by sun and water while taking a deep black brown color over time.
Classic design . Traditional brass buckles. Made entirely of leather.

Natural Cosmetics from Crete

For thousands of years, Greek women have relied on olive oil to give their skin a naturally healthy, radiant appearance. Discover their secret with Aphrodite, a line of botanically infused products for face, body, and hair that harnesses the moisturizing and antioxidant properties of Cretan extra virgin olive oil. So you can look beautiful every day, naturally.

From the heart of the Mediterranean sea…

The innovator of olive oil skin care with phenomenal benefits

Experience the difference! Buy them on line.

The Harbour

Most people's time in Rethimnon is split between the beach and the tavernas immediately behind it, with an occasional excursion as far as the inner harbour or up to the Rimondi fountain and another cluster of tavemas. So the waterfront seems a logical place to start.

The impressive breakwaters, which are constantly being extended, reveal some of the problems with the harbour. Originally created by the Venetians, it has spent the centuries since constantly silting up, and until very recently had given up on trying to handle really big ships or ferries: when the locals decided to set up their own ferry service to Pireas (the Arkadhi was bought by public subscription) the whole thing had to be completely cleared out, and only a constant dredging operation keeps it open. Even now. the ferry is virtually the Venetian castle ever built, this was a response, in the last quarter of the sixteenth century, to a series of pirate raids (by Barbarossa in 1538, 1562 and 1571) which had devastated the town. Whether it was effective is another matter - the Venetian city fell to the Turks in less man 24 hours (they simply bypassed the fort); and when the English writer Robert Pashley visited in 1834 he found the guns, some of them still the Venetian originals, entirely useless. Walk around the outside, preferably at sunset, to get an impression of its vast bulk and fear-some defences. There are great views along the coast and a pleasant resting point around the far side at the Sunset Taverna.

The entrance, however, is not on the seaward side but in the southeastern corner, opposite the new Archeological Museum- As you walk in through the walls there's a small cafe/bar in what must have been some sort of guardhouse within the bastion, and then you emerge into the vast open interior space, dotted with the remains of barracks, arsenals, officers' houses, earthworks and deep shafts. At the centre is a large domed building which was once a church and later a mosque, designed to be large enough for the entire population to take shelter within the walls. Although much is ruined now, the fort remains thoroughly atmospheric, with views from the walls over the town and harbour, or in the other direction along the coast to the west.

Among the most impressive remains are the cisterns where rainwater would have been collected: deep and cool. and dimly lit by slits through which shafts of sunlight penetrate. The church/mosque, recently restored, has a really fabulous dome and a pretty carved mihrab (a niche indicating the direction of Mecca ), both of which are Turkish additions. Just to the north of this are some fine arched foundations and a stairway leading down to a gate in the seaward defences. This was in theory for resupplying the defenders, but in practice it was through here that the Venetians fled from the Turkish attack.