Hora Sfakion

The village of Hóra Sfakíon

Monument commemorating the evacuation during WW2 of British and ANZAC forces from Hora Sfakion in May 1941. Click on the left plaque for a closer view

Hóra Sfakíon (Greek: Χώρα Σφακίων) or Sfakia (Σφακιά [sfaˈca]) 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 census). It lies on the south coast near the end of the Imbros Gorge, 74 km south of Chania. It has two small harbours, where 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 ferries also run to the nearby coastal town of Loutro and the island of Gavdos.

Hora Sfakion is a small village with a main harbourfront of tavernas, two minimarkets, a butcher and a bakery. There is a quiet local beach immediately West of the village, and several pebbly beaches nearby. The town offers a variety of tourist accommodation: rooms, studios and apartments. The local economy is based on tourism, fishing, olive oil production and sheep and goat herding.

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 the Battle of Crete and the Allied evacuation that followed.

Hóra Sfakíon is famous as one of the centers of 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.

See also

• Sfakians
• Battle of Crete

External links

• HORA SFAKION website
• CHORA SFAKION website
• XENIA at Hora Sfakion
• Portal site about the region of Sfakiá
• Searching for the 100 churches of Hóra Sfakíon
• Live webcam from the village of Hóra Sfakíon, Sfakiá
• Local guide to Sfakiá
• More than 1,000 pictures of Sfakia - from the 1960s until nowadays
• University of Lausanne history of Sfakiá (French)

Coordinates: 35°12′03″N 24°08′14″E / 35.20083°N 24.13722°E / 35.20083; 24.13722