Mills

South of Harasso, we still meet one small windmill park of Crete. There are still standing three windmills in a row. These mills are of the rarer type of mills in Crete: the completely circular, turning to all winds, called Xetrocharis. They were used for grinding grain.

Only a few meters south of the stone bridge of Astraki we find the stunning watermill of Paterikos, preserved in very good condition and it is of the very few mills that existed in Crete and were double, meaning that the carried through the stone channels was divided into two different fall-towers and so. correspondingly, there were two different rotors for moving the millstones.

North of Fourni village, Merambelo district, we still meet one of the most impressive windmill park of Crete. There are still standing 13 windmills in a row at location Galaropetra. Others survive in good condition and others have collapsed.

At this point there is a rough unknown windmill group that consisted of 10 mills and operated until May 1867. In these mills, local chieftains had gathered their wounded men during the titanic ten-day battle of Lassithi.

On top of a hill just above the village of Gasi, by Arkalochori, in the area called Mili (mills) we meet an impressive windmill. The location is the highest of the whole area and offers unique views to the villages of the plain of Arkalochori. The windmill of Gasi is the only one that has survived. The windmill is of the type of xetrocharis which is circular and is able to rotate according to the wind direction. This type of windmill was quite common in Heraklion, white at Lassithi we meet the oblong type of Xetroharis (stable mill).

The Mill of Gazepis near the village Nipiditos has been declared a protected monument by the Modern Monuments Service. Here, Mathios Apostolakis from Nipiditos who was called with the nickname Gazep (ie "reactionary"), in the 19th century built a windmill.

Bitzariano is a small abandoned scenic settlement close to Kastelli, Pediada district, and a suburb of Karouzana village. It name is taken after the surname Bitzarakis. Near the village runs the river that gathers water from the north Kasteli plain. The value of water was very high, as the locals built many watermills in order to shred the grain of the area.

On the road that connects village Vori with the palace of Phaestus and next to the banks of river Geropotamos, we meet the ruined watermill of the area that locals call Gerontomylos (old mill). It is said that the area around the mill was a favorite place for the Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis.