Disappointed with the overcast weather on Tuesday, we changed out of our swimming costumes and into sturdy(er) walking shoes for a trip to the Dikteon Cave which is, as legend has it, the birthplace of Zeus. Dikteon Andron contains striking stalactites and stalagmites and has been the site of Zeus worship for thousands of years. To reach it you have to drive up the winding hairpin bends to the Lasithi Plateau. At around 840m above sea level, the plateau has been inhabited since the Neolithic period and its cultivated greenery and flatness contrasts with the surrounding landscape of scrubby ruggedness clothed with hummocks of wild flowers and herbs.

To reach the cave itself from Psychro village, you have to climb up a further kilometer, on the back of a donkey if that’s your thing; it isn’t mine, and then down lots of steps into the cave itself. Most of the pictures here have come out green. My eyes did not see the green, but my camera did. I found the cave refrshingly unspoiled, non-Disneyed, and the cool humidity of the cave was refreshing.

I’m not sure how enticing or illustrative the pictures here are. It’s one of those places where you can take one picture or a thousand, but I hope we can agree how awe-inpiring it is to see these rocks formed by the drip of millons of years. It’s certainly worth the visit.