The Dikteon Cave
Zeus's birthplace in myth — stalactites, stalagmites and a pool.
Max Ryazanov — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Deror_avi — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Deror_avi — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Deror_avi — CC BY-SA 3.0
A flat circular plain at about **850 metres**, ringed on every side by the **Dikti** mountains — a wholly unexpected sight in Crete: level green farmland amid bare mountains, with twenty small villages around its rim. The plateau is **exceptionally fertile**, its soil formed of rain and meltwater sediment trapped in the basin, and it has been farmed since Minoan times. It was once distinguished by thousands of white **windmills** with cloth sails that pumped groundwater for irrigation — put up in the nineteenth century and numbering some ten thousand. ⚠ But most **no longer work**: diesel and electric pumps replaced them, and what remains are rusting frames and a few restored for visitors. **Don't come expecting a plain full of turning sails** — that image is from the 1960s. Its most important feature is the **Dikteon Cave** above the village of Psychro: a large cave of stalactites and stalagmites where legend holds that **Zeus was born**, hidden by his mother Rhea from his father Cronus. The winding mountain road up to the plateau is part of the pleasure of it.
Zeus's birthplace in myth — stalactites, stalagmites and a pool.
A winding climb with views over the whole plateau.
Small farming villages around the rim.
Lasithi Plateau, 72052 Crete
**A few, and most don't work** — the thing that most disappoints visitors to the plateau. At its height Lasithi had some **ten thousand windmills** with white cloth sails pumping groundwater for irrigation, and the sight was among the best-known images of Crete in the mid twentieth century. Then **diesel and electric pumps** replaced them, being cheaper and more reliable, and the mills were abandoned. What you see today are **rusting metal frames** scattered across the fields without sails, and a small number restored near the tourist roads. The plateau is worth visiting for its landscape, its cave and its villages — not for the windmills.
Yes if your fitness allows — it is a genuinely large cave with stalactites, stalagmites and a pool at the bottom, lit and laid out with steps and paths, and quite unlike the open archaeological sites that fill Crete. The legend of **Zeus's birth** here gives it added meaning. ⚠ But be realistic: **the descent is steep, wet and slippery**, taking 15–20 minutes, the climb back is harder, and the air inside is cold and damp. **Closed shoes with good soles are essential** — not sandals. It is unsuitable for limited mobility or anyone with bad knees. And from the car park to the cave mouth there is a further climb (or a mule for a fee).