There are some trees in Crete, that either due to their enormous size or following legends, have been officially declared as “Natural Monuments”, by the Greek goverment.
The most famous of them are:
The evergreen plane-tree of Ancient Gortys, under which Zeus and Europe mated and, thus, Minos was born, the plane-tree in krassi (aged 2400 years) and the oversized hawthorn of Ancient Zominthos.
Some other trees have been associated with the struggles of the Cretans for liberation, such as the plane tree of the Pente Parthenes at Ancient Lappa, the oak tree of Ismael at Mathia etc.
There are also many ancient olive trees that have been declared monumental by the Association of Cretan Olive Municipalities. The oldest olive trees in the world are located at the location Azorias by Kavoussi and Ano Vouves by Chania.
Finally, it is worth mentioning, that the Paliani Monastery, which is one of the oldest monasteries in the island, has as a trademark a very old myrtle tree. This myrtle is considered sacred and is honored on September 24. Inside the trunk of this Holy Myrtle, is believed to be the icon of Panagia Mirtidiotissa (Virgin Mary of Myrtle).
