It is full of picturesque villages, old Byzantine churches, Hellenistic and Roman settlements and wild mountains. Amari was given the name ‘Lotus Land’ by the English soldiers, such as Patrick Leigh Fermor, who helped to kidnap the German General Kreipe during WWII. They found the valley so beautiful and enchanting after spending a long time in the mountains, that they thought of it as paradise.
Amari Valley has a collection of tiny, Greek towns that rest in the shadow of Mount Ida , the highest mountain in Crete (Psiloritis in Greek). This is the place to stay if you are looking for off-beat accommodation and want to stay in smaller villages, away from all the tourists on the coast.
Some of these villages are so small, they barely register on Google Maps. Amari is one of the areas of Crete with the most rainfalls; indeed its name is taken after amara that it an ancient greek word for a water channel. Platys River starts from Amari and exits in Agia Galini, while there is one of the largest dams in Crete, the dam of Potami. Byzantine churches, Minoan settlements and wild mountains are dispersed throughout the entire county. The gorge of Patsos with the cave of Saint Anthony, the ancient town of Sivrytos, the monastery of Asomati, the Minoan settlements in Monastiraki and Apodoulou are the most famous sights of Amari.
