The Nida plateau
A high plain between bare peaks with domed stone shepherds' huts.
Olaf Tausch — CC BY 3.0 · Tomisti — CC BY-SA 4.0 · C messier — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Olaf Tausch — CC BY 3.0
**A cave at 1,538 m where Zeus was raised** — in Greek myth — and one of the most important religious sites in the whole history of Crete. You reach it after a long climb from Anogia on a mountain road that ends at the **Nida plateau**: a flat upland plain between bare peaks, grazed by sheep and dotted with **mitata** — domed stone shepherds' huts built the same way for centuries. The view alone justifies the drive. The cave itself has a **very wide mouth** in the mountainside, with a short flight of steps up to it. It was a cult centre from Minoan through to Roman times, and **engraved bronze shields**, votive offerings and tools were excavated here — the most important of them now in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. ⚠ But be honest with yourself: **the inside is empty**. No decoration, no spectacular formations, no lighting — a large rock chamber and excavation trenches. The value is **historical and scenic** rather than visual inside the cave.
A high plain between bare peaks with domed stone shepherds' huts.
A wide opening in the mountainside up a short flight of steps.
20 km from Anogia above the treeline with a view to both seas.
Nida Plateau, Psiloritis, 74051 Rethymno, Crete
**The two legends compete, and the answer is that each claims a different role.** The best-known version makes the **Dikteon Cave** (in Lasithi, eastern Crete) the place of **birth**: there his mother Rhea hid him from his father Kronos, who was swallowing his children. The **Idaean Cave** here is the place of **upbringing**: where he grew up in secret, tended by the nymph Amaltheia while the Kouretes danced around him clashing their shields to hide his crying. ⚠ But the division is not that neat in the ancient sources — some make **Ida the birthplace too**, and the claim is old on both sides. The historically important point is that **both were real and significant cult sites** from Minoan times, and that the competing myths most likely reflect a genuine **rivalry between religious centres** in ancient Crete.
**Yes — but go for the plateau, not the cave.** Be clear about the expectation: **the interior is a large rock chamber with no lighting, no displays and no panels**, and you will spend ten minutes in it. Anyone going to see an "archaeological site" in the usual sense will come away disappointed. ✅ But the day as a whole is another matter: a climbing road that sometimes goes through cloud, the flat **Nida plateau** between bare peaks, which is one of the strangest landscapes in Crete, the stone **mitata**, the shepherds and their flocks, the mountain air, and the feeling of standing where people worshipped for four thousand years. ⚠ The right arrangement: **pair it with Anogia**, and see the **bronze shields in the Heraklion museum** before or after — that is when the empty cave acquires its meaning.