Anogia

Anogia stands at about 740 metres on the northern flank of Psiloritis, a stone village of some two thousand people that has produced a remarkable share of Crete's musicians, including Nikos Xylouris and Psarantonis, and the sound of the lyra is genuinely part of daily life rather than a performance for visitors. The upper village keeps weaving workshops where older women work at looms in shopfronts, selling blankets and textiles; the lower village has the church square and tavernas serving the mountain cooking of the region, lamb, cheese, wild greens. From here the road climbs to the Nida plateau at 1,400 metres, the shepherds' mitata huts, the Ideon cave and the start of the Psiloritis summit route.

What you actually see

• The weaving shops - looms working in the upper village streets.
• The music tradition - lyra and Cretan song, heard in tavernas and festivals.
• The mountain cooking - lamb, cheese and greens in the village tavernas.
• The Nida road - the climb to the high plateau and the Ideon cave.

When to go

May to October for the mountain roads and the summer festival season; winter brings snow and the village turns inward. Village feast days are the best time to hear music properly.

Honest expectations

Anogia is a working village, not a showpiece, and parts are plainly modern concrete. Textile shops sell a mixture of handwoven and imported goods. Evening music happens when it happens rather than on a schedule.

Nearby

The Nida plateau and Ideon cave are above; Rethymno and Heraklion are each about an hour away.