Crete - Mt Ida (Mt Psiloritis)

The ascent of Mount Ida (Mt Psilorítis, 2,456m/8,058ft) is a rewarding but strenuous climb (warm clothing and supply of food essential, guide advisable). The starting-point is either Kamáres (with the cave in which the polychrome pottery of the Middle Minoan period known as Kamáres ware was found), from which it is about nine hours' climb to the summit, or the village of Anóyia (eight hours). On the north flank of Mount Ida, at a height of 1,280m/4,200ft, is the Idéon Ántron, a Minoan cult cave.