Kissamos: A Walk Through Crete's Westernmost Town

West Cemetery

Turn left on leaving the travel agency and then left again into the one-way street Odos Polemiston 1941. Walking past a fountain dating back to Venetian times, you will come to the 'West Cemetery', where archaeologists have unearthed a cemetery from Roman times. A viewing gallery overlooks a huge chamber tomb. The ancient steps down into the burial chamber are still clearly recognisable, as is the entrance to the tomb, which was once sealed. The base of a vault shows how the chamber used to be covered.

Early Christian Cemetery

Now continue past the town hall, and you will come to Eirinaiou Square and then, on the old National Road, to the large school complex for the whole region. Opposite the school, a sign draws your attention to the 'Early Christian Cemetery'. Like all the excavations in the town, there is no public access here, but you can at least see the paving of the town's ancient main street from the road.

East Roman Bath

Continue back westward along the National Road. If you turn left into Odos Lafonisou before the first supermarket, you will find the 'East Roman Bath' 60 m further on to your left. Across the fence, you can clearly make out the brickwork of a large Roman bath complex. The remains of columns lie around the overgrown grounds, and two large clay pithoi (storage vessels) stand upright, empty.

Urban Villa / House of Phidias

Once you've passed this archaeological site, veer right into Odos Makedonomachon and then take the third street on your right back to the town centre. On the way, you'll pass the town's most significant archaeological site, the 'Urban Villa/House of Phidias'. Right in front of the back wall of the state emergency clinic, you can make out the foundation walls of what was once a large Roman villa measuring 2,500 m². It was destroyed by an earthquake in 365 AD.

Mavros Molos Beach

Via the main square of Kissamos, Platia Eleftheriou Venizelou, return to your car and follow the road downhill to the short seafront promenade with several cafés and tavernas. If you want to swim in Kissamos, head west along the shore, cross a bridge over a riverbed and you will arrive at Mavros Molos Beach, the town's only good beach.

The Archaeological Museum of Kissamos

In Classical and Roman antiquity, the far west of Crete was of special significance, because unlike in Minoan times, western Greece and Italy had now become important trade partners of Crete. Some of the most interesting finds from the area are on display in the Archaeological Museum of Kissamos, which is housed in a stately administrative building from Venetian and Ottoman times.

On the ground floor, two objects deserve closer attention. The first is a model of a simple temple from the 5th/4th century BC, which was found in Falassarna on the west coast. Miniature temples like this were certainly not architectural models; they may have fulfilled the same function as Christian wayside shrines do today, a kind of small private home temple.

The second item is a grave stele discovered in Polirrinia and dating back to Hellenistic/Roman times, between 150 and 50 BC. According to the inscription, it depicts a father and daughter bidding each other farewell: the daughter is seated and the father is standing. The remains of both, incidentally, were found in the same grave.

On the upper floor, two colourful floor mosaics from around 200 AD, i.e. Roman times, draw your attention. The small one depicts the four seasons as personifications in its four corner panels. Winter is certainly the easiest to recognise. In the central panel, three women with vine wreaths are dancing around an altar. They are the Horae, daughters of Zeus, who are responsible for the regular cycles of nature.

The large mosaic measures 9.7 x 8 m and, like the small one, was unearthed in Kissamos itself. It too is dedicated to themes surrounding Dionysus and the fertility of nature. Look closely, and you will see many small, often comical scenes of the wine harvest and hunting, drinking, carefree spirits and joie de vivre. Can you identify the different animals?

Finally, a sculpture in the back left-hand corner of the mosaic room also tells of people's lust for life in Roman times. Here you will see Aphrodite, whom the Romans later called Venus, and next to her a boy from among her followers, a little Eros. He plays for his lady on a kithara, a kind of guitar from classical times.

Info: Archaeological Museum of Kissamos, Platia Stratigou Tzanakaki (north of the National Road in the town centre, clearly signposted). Open daily except Tuesdays, April to October 8 am to 3 pm, November to March 8.30 am to 3.30 pm. Admission €5, reduced €3.

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