Whereas the 2-minute videos of the Municipality of Platanias, intentionally, give no more than a brief glimpse of the attractions of the area’s villages, the NeaTV series Parea me tin Aristea (Company with Aristea) provides an in-depth look at the villages both of the Nomos of Chania and elsewhere on Crete.

In programmes lasting typically one and a half hours, the host Aristea Kalogridi talks to local residents to hear about their way of life and personal stories, enlists the help of local historians in tracing the village’s origins, and invariably gathers together groups of local musicians to perform traditional Cretan music. The series is broadcast every Tuesday on Nea TV at 9.10 pm, with repeats on Saturdays at 8.40 pm. Previous episodes, which can be seen on the NeaTV website at https://www.neatv.gr/broadcast/pareametinaristea, have included familiar places such as Deliana, Voukolies, Falassarna and Kissamos, Kalyves and Fres in Apokoronas, Omalos and Sfakia, as well as others in the regions of Rethymnon and Heraklion. There are a total of 88 programmes to date and they are worth watching to get the flavour of traditional ways of life across the island – many of the interviewees can be heard congratulating the host on her work in preserving authentic local traditions.

The programme on Voukolies (https://www.neatv.gr/broadcast_videos/parea-me-tin-aristea-voykolies-chanion) begins with a visit to the Tower of Voukolies, a modern-era building which is a representation, rather than a reconstruction, of an Ottoman fortress which stood on a hill overlooking the village. A commentary by Panagiotis Papadakis, secretary of the Cultural Association of Voukolies, describes how the fortress played a significant role in the struggle for Cretan independence.

The battle of the Tower of Voukolies
Panagiotis Papadakis: “We are at the Tower of Voukolies which, as you can see from the view over there, acted as an observation post. Already from the 16th century there was a strong Ottoman presence in the village. In 1834 it is recorded in a document by Pashley [Robert Pashley, Travels in Crete, 1837] that there were 50 Ottoman families in the village, so the aim of the tower here was basically to give warning of and to protect the Ottomans from the attacks of the Christians during the uprisings, of which there were very many.

“There was a three-year period from 1866 to 1869 in which fortresses and castles of this type were built all over Crete. We are already in the final period of the Turkish rule in Crete, a very grim period. The Cretans rebel and demand unification with the mother Greece. On the other hand fanatical Ottomans and Turko-Cretans react with atrocities, persecution of priests, attacks on villages. Thus in January 1897, following the slaughter of Christians at Galatas and Chania, the Great Powers decided to intervene in Crete. The Greek government, seeing all these developments, decided to forestall the Great Powers and sent an army led by Colonel Timoleon Vassos.

“Unfortunately the Great Powers did not allow Vassos to approach the city of Chania. Thus on 2nd February 1897, he was obliged to anchor his fleet at Kolymbari. He hastily disembarked his army, while the Gonia Monastery was transformed into an ammunition store. Waiting for instructions from the Greek government as to how he should proceed, Vassos moved his army on the next day, 3rd February, towards Platanias, intending to take the heights around Halepa and occupy them. However, the Great Powers did not allow him to do this as they had designated a neutral zone with a radius of 6 km outside the gates of Chania.

“He therefore established the army at Platanias. As they were very close to the shore and he feared being bombarded by the fleet of the Great Powers, and since he wanted to defend their southern flank – as there were very many Turkish forts, like this one – he decided also to defend the ammunition store at the Gonia Monastery and to attack the Tower of Voukolies. Thus he instructed a detachment to take up battle positions, and on 5th February the party set out and established itself at Gavalomouri, a hill very close to the village here.

“The commander of the fort at the time was a major Fouad who was urged to surrender the fort. However, he refused, and thereupon the attack by Vassos’ detachment began. The artillery proved to have been stationed too far away and a new order was give for it to move closer to the tower, so the damage was catastrophic. The battle lasted a whole day. Major Fouad, together with 200 soldiers, tried to escape towards Chania on the evening of 6th February, however on the hill of Kastellos near Vryses of Kydonia the Cretans set an ambush and killed him and took his soldiers prisoner. Those who had remained in the tower continued to fight. At some point on the morning of 7th February, when the attackers realised that the tower was undefended, they attacked and captured it and found 100 dead Turks within the area of the tower.

“What I would like to emphasise is not so much the battle which was waged here as the significance of the battle for us here in the village. What has remained in the minds of the inhabitants of Voukolies is that essentially it was the first time that the Greek government, albeit after pressure from the opposition and the Greek people, became actively involved in matters concerning Crete, the Cretan issue. So for us here it was the first time that battle was joined on Cretan soil by the regular Greek army.

“So what we have retained from what you might call this fatal place is a significant development which saw the stream of history start from here – the beginning of the end of the Cretan issue. As you know, after one year, in 1898, we achieved the independence of Crete – the foundation of the Cretan State – and subsequently 1913 brought union with the mother Greece. So for us here it is not so much the size of the battle as its importance, it was the first battle waged by the regular Greek army and the developments led to our independence.”

Mr Papadakis, who is also the head of the Voukolies Primary School, added that each year school children of all ages from primary school upwards take part in celebrations of the event which are held at the Tower, so that they are taught its importance and the village’s place in Cretan history. He also said that the original key of the fortress is now in the Benaki Museum in Athens, and there is a contemporary illustration of the battle in the National Historical Museum.

A visit to the Tower
Access to the Tower is via a dirt road from the Tavronitis-Paleochora road running south-west from Voukolies. The turning is on the left just after a bend as the road rises up from the village, and is not very well signed. A short drive through olive trees reveals an open space with a chapel and meeting room owned by the Metropolis of Kissamos and Selino, and the replica of the tower, which is self-evidently much smaller than the original. Some ruins of the complex remain nearby. It has a peaceful atmosphere, with a spreading carob tree in the middle of a grassed area, and a large concrete platform overlooking the village in the valley below. It is an ideal setting for weddings and baptisms, which are probably its main use, apart from the annual celebration of the battle, held at the beginning of February each year.