Hora Sfakion
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Hóra Sfakíon (Χώρα Σφακιων) or Sfakia is a town on the south coast of Crete, Greece. It is the capital of the remote and mountainous region of Sfakiá, and is a small town of just 278 inhabitants (2001 cansus). It is found on the southern coast near the end of the Imbros Gorge, 74km south of Chania. In its two small harbours, the ferry boats from Agia Roumeli dock, which in the summer bring the hikers from the Samaria Gorge to take buses back to the northern coast. From Hora Sfakion you can also get the ferry to the nearby coastal town of Loutro.
Hora Sfakion is a small village with a main harbourfront of tavernas, and has two minimarkets, a butcher and a bakery. You can hire a car, or arrange a local taxi. The village has a quiet local beach inside the village, and several pebbly beaches nearby. There are several accommodations available to guests looking for a room, studio or an apartment. Currently the local economy is prospering on tourism, fishing, olive oil production and sheep and goat herdering.
Hóra Sfakíon prospered during the Venetian and Turkish occupations and up to the 18th century carried on a flourishing trade with its own small fleet. It was said to have had a hundred churches but the town suffered badly from wartime bombardment during and after the Allied evacuation.
Hóra Sfakíon is famous as one of the centers of the resistance against the occupying forces of both the Venetians and the Turks. The impenetrable White Mountains to the north combined with the rocky beaches on the south helped the locals fight off all invaders. Anopolis, a village near Hóra Sfakíon, is the birthplace of one of the most celebrated Cretan revolutionaries, Daskalogiannis.
