The
municipality of Lasithi Plateau is in western Lasithi and its seat is
Germiado. This is a mountain municipality of 129,976 acres, with a
population of 3,152 according to the census of 2001, and it is one of
the few permanently inhabited regions of the Mediterranean Sea at an
elevation higher than 800m.
Plateau, where exquisite agricultural products are
produced, is one of the most fertile areas of Greece. Many years ago,
some wells were used for the irrigation of the area, with the aid of
picturesque windmills, replicas of which can be found in local
restaurants. The biggest villages of Plateau are Mesa Lasithi, Saint
George, Kaminaki, Psychro, Plati, Kato Metochi and Germiado. The area
has been inhabited by humans since the New Stone Age, and there are some
typical archaeological findings exhibited at the Archaeological Museum
of Heraklion. During the 16th century, families of Peloponnesean
refugees settled around the area after Peloponnese was occupied by
Turks, while it used to serve as a bolt-hole and a shelter for renegades
during the Turkish occupation. Germiado is 49km west of Agios Nikolaos,
between the eastern and the western foothills of Lasithi plateau. With
approximately 750 residents, it is the seat of the present Lasithi
Plateau municipality, while there are public services, banks and one
retirement home in the village. Its name is attributed to the first
settlers that arrived at the village during the Venetian occupation.
Around the area of Germiado there have been found vessels dating from
the Middle Minoan Age, shells, coins used during the Roman Ages and a
lot of copper objects. The abundance and the significance of the
findings suggest that the area has been inhabited since the Early Minoan
Age. Kaminaki (literally meaning little furnace) is 58km from Agios
Nikolaos, at an elevation of 856m above sea level and it was named after
the little furnace of the blacksmith working at the homonym farm during
the Venetian occupation. This is a picturesque village, full of
vegetation and built at the beginning of Kloros valley, which used to be
the major vineyard of the region. In the early 16th century or the late
15th century, there was a monastery dedicated to Agia Paraskevi which
was allegedly situated where there is now a church dedicated to the
patron saint of the village. Southwest of Kaminaki there is also a dirt
road which leads to beautiful Kloros valley, while one of the three
roads through which Plateau is accessed passes through the village.
Agios Georgios is one of the most newly found villages of Lasithi,
inhabited by residents of surrounding villages upon its foundation. It
was named after its major church, which was built on the location where
an icon of Saint George mysteriously transferred from the church of
Saint George in Avgousti village was allegedly found. The church is
adjacent to a huge rock called “charaki”. It is worth noting that while
its inhabitants used to work as stockbreeders before the German
occupation, a lot of them engaged in cultural and intellectual
activities afterwards. Also, Agios Georgios is the birthplace of great
people of the resistance, culture, arts and science.
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