Location
The Village Stavrohori
From the book "Sitia", N.Papadakis, Archaeologist, 1983
As Papadakis mentions, stavros means “cross”, chori is the place, the village. Most likely the name refers to a place at a crossroads.
Indeed, the roads through Stavrohori lead in four directions: to the south to Koutsoura, to the north to Hrisopigi, a village situated right at the foot of the Orno or the Sitia mountains, and leads further on to Sitia, to the west to the little mountain village of Orino and to the east there is a dirt road to Agio Stefano.
During Venetian times villages were not built directly at the shore because of the frequent raids of pirates. Usually a place was chosen which provided an outlook to the ocean to discover potential enemies in time and which was not to be seen easily from the coast. This is the case in Stavrochori.
In 1928 Stavrochori was designated a provincial capital and it started to turn into a large settlement with more than 2000 inhabitants. There were numerous businesses, a police station, a post office and a school.
When tourism commenced to increase in the early sixties the focus changed to the coastal areas and people started to move where labour was in demand and where they were able to make more money. They built houses, tavernas and shops near the shore to provide tourists with an adequate infrastructure.
The previously thriving mountain villages became more and more deserted, people left their parents behind and moved to Koutsura, Ierapetra and even to Athens.
Also the infrastructure gradually was shifted to Koutsoura at the seaside. Even the school was closed in the late eighties due to a lack of students.
Eventually the old people died and their houses lay deserted. The young generation – especially for sentimental reasons – did not want to sell the places, where they grew up and where their family had lived.
Presently most of the inhabitants of Stavrochori are old people, about two thirds of the houses are in desperate need of repair or have completely fallen apart.
But there is hope for a change again. In the last years some of the families rebuilt the old family homes and use them now as holiday retreats.
People from abroad came to Crete and fell in love with the old, picturesque village. They bought an old house and fixed it up. Construction companies followed this trend and refurbished some of the homes. Now there are quite a few nicely restored old houses, which are still waiting for new owners…
The villagers of Stavrohori accept this development. They welcome strangers with their typical Greek hospitality. As a foreigner you will never have the same status than they do, but they will always bid you a warm hearted welcome. They will bring you bags full of fruits and vegetables and pitchers of wine. They will offer you big cans of freshly pressed olive oil and bottles of raki.
Raki
It is also called “Tsikoudia” and is the special alcoholic drink of Crete. It has nothing to do with the
Turkish raki, as it does not contain aniseed.
Cretan raki (it is pronounced “radshi” in Cretan dialect) is burnt from the pomace of grapes which is left
over from wine making.
Every village has its own raki-still and November is the month of raki burning. The men of the village take turns in
watching the fire that burns day and night. They are provided with food from the villagers, who, in return, get some
bottles of raki.
Raki is medicine.
You always should have three little glasses (one karafaki), otherwise you might encounter bad luck.
If you are sad - have it. It will boost your spirits.
If you are happy - have it. It will make you even happier.
If you have a cold - have it hot with honey and pepper and go to bed immediately. You will get up healthy
the next morning.
If you suffer sun allergy - use it as an ointment. I tried it out - it works just fine!
