The Valley

A hundred shades of green
The seemingly never-ending ascend through a winding road away from the hustle and bustle of Heraklion, the capital of Crete, reaches its peak in the village of Aghia Varvara and from then on its all downhill; then you are startled: stretching literally as far as the eye can see, there’s Messara valley, a 45 sq mile plain covering most of the south-west of Heraklion prefecture, a carpet of a hundred shades of green, of olive groves and vineyards mixing together, growing side by side as they have been doing for the last 20 centuries… Then, there’s the blue sea, embracing the island, eternally chiseling its fine curves.

A fertile ...sea

This huge stretch of plentiful land used to be part of the Aegean Sea, sea water that made its way into a Jurassic flatland, surrounded by a natural wall of mountains to the South and North, creating a natural haven. Then, only 34 centuries ago, the water gradually started to withdraw, strong earthquakes lifting the tectonic plate to form what is today the fertile valley of Messara, the garden of Crete.

Neolithic man walked this plain, learned every inch of it, held its warm argyle soil in his handful, built shrines and small settlements, hunted the local fauna and eventually entered the farming period, inventing farming methods still used to this day, nurturing the sacred olive tree and vine, his inseparable companions in a good life: well nourished and firm on his feet, the Neolithic man will form what is widely known as “Minoan”, the Neolithic Cretan civilization of a hundred cities that will introduce Europe to her future.

The good host

Messara valley has played a continual part in Crete’s history: her peoples and conquering claimants–and there were several of the latter- disciplined her with simple tools: the ox and the plough. In return, Messara, eagerly rendered a cornucopia of foods for the dinner table: golden wheat and barley, olives and olive oil, wild fruit and seed, a diversity of foods that would put together the basis of one of the most wholesome and nutritious diets in the world.

Keep it simple

Of all the gifts the valley had to offer olive oil was perhaps the most socially and economically influential commodity: cultivating the olive tree is comparatively a simple and lesser-risk process. About 00 trees would provide the necessary quantity a family needed to make it through the year. Its uses were simple and resourceful: a cooking fat to stew and fry with, a dressing to accompany a vast variety of wild greens the locals included with their daily meals, even a remedy applied with all sorts of fashions to soothe the aching body and more… As the society of Crete evolves, adopting the western economic model, people turn away from farming and move to the urban areas of the North coast.