Rouvas forest

This guide to the Rouvas forest above Heraklion opens with the 1994 wildfire that came close to destroying trees far older than Crete's history of occupation. It explains why the kermes oaks here grow into full-sized trees instead of the knee-high scrub found elsewhere on the island, and follows the Cretan rebels who used these ravines and stone shepherd huts as hiding places under Venetian and Ottoman rule. Listen for the small church of Agios Ioannis by the stream, and keep an eye on the sky for one of Europe's rarest birds.