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Sights - Chania Prefecture |
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Aradena |
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The
now almost abandoned village of Aradena is situated 3 km west of Anopoli
in an altitude of 520 m above sea level.
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The
village is not mentioned in the Venetian censuses, but exists in the
Egyptian registration of 1834. In 1881 it is mentioned as situated in the
Agios Ioannis municipality with 124 inhabitants. In 1900 it had 188
inhabitants, but the number of inhabitants has since then gone down to only
8 in 1981.
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| According to Barba-Pantzelios' Tragoudi tou Daskalogianni, verse 960 ff. from 1786 describing the Daskalogiannis rebellion in 1770, the village had many inhabitants and beautiful houses before the Turkish attack: |
| Πού είναι οι γι-οντάδες σας, τα καμαρόσπιτά σας; | Where are your rich rooms and houses with arches? | |
| Ούλα γενήκαν τρόχαλος και ποιο να τ' αναχτίσει, | All
are in ruins, and who shall rebuild them, |
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| που πιάσαν οι νοικοκυροί Ανατολή και Δύση... | now the owners are spread to east and west... |
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Barba-Pantzelios has also told very movingly of the battle itself, verse 421 ff. (the teacher referred to in the first verse, is Daskalogiannis): |
| Κι ο Δάσκαλος εστέκετο κάτω στο μοναστήρι | And the teacher stood near the monastery, | |
| στον Άγιον Αϊστράτηγο, που 'ναι το πατητήρι. | near Archangel Gabriel, where the grape press is. | |
| Στο δώμα του μοναστηριού είχε το μπαϊράκι | On the monastery's roof the flag was waving, | |
| κι εβάσταν το στη χέρα του το Σηφοδασκαλάκι. | and Sifodaskalaki held it in his hand. | |
| "Φύγε μπαϊραχτάρη μου, και σεις οι καπετάνοι | "Flee, flag holder and you too, captains, | |
| γιατί μας ετυλίξασι οι σκύλ' οι Μουσουλμάνοι." | for the Muslim dogs have captured us." | |
| Και τότες σηκωθήκασι και βάνουν το στα πόδια | Then they got up and fled in haste, | |
| κι επέφτασι σαν τη βροχή οι μπάλες και τα βόλια. | while bullets and shells fell heavy as rain. | |
| Στο πλάι στην Αράδενα που 'ν' ο μεγάλος πεύκος | Close to Aradena by the big pine tree | |
| έπεσ' ο Μπουρμπαχοστρατής κι ο Διγενής ο Πέτρος. | Bourbachostratis and Petros Dijenis were killed. | |
| Εικοσιέξε Σφακιανοί και δυό Αϊβασιλιώτες, | Twenty-six sfakiotes and two from Agios Vasilios | |
| πέφτουσι ούλοι των νεκροί, οι διαλεχτοί παιγνιώτες. | fell dead to the ground, the great warriors. | |
| Σπούσινε κ' οι γ-επίλοιποι πρίχου τσοι σοντυλίξου | The others hurried away, before they were captured | |
| και πρίχου στην Αράδενα τσ' αδικοθανατίσου. | and suffered an unfair death at Aradena. |
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The church to Archangel Gabriel |
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the last years of the Venetian period until the destruction of the village
in 1770, the inhabitants made a good living from shipping. They used
Loutro as port like the inhabitants of Anopoli.
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| Pashley
left Anopoli on May 6th 1834 and went westwards to the Samaria gorge. On
his way he made a short stop in Aradena:
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leaving Hághios Dhemétrios, we crossed the low ridge which bounds the
plain of Anópolis in this direction, and in about half an hour arrived at
the edge of a chasm running south of the village of Arádhena. It
commences to our right near the foot of the loftiest ridge of the Sfakian
mountains, and extends down to the sea. It is no easy matter to cross this
nearly perpendicular cleft in the solid rock, forming as it does a narrow
ravine of several hundred feet in depth, down and up the steep sides of
which we have to pass. The road, if road it can be called that road is
none, winds along each side, changing its course every ten or twelve
paces. These turns were the only very dangerous points: at these I more
than once expected to see my horse miss his footing, for the stones on
which he had to tread were large and slippery, and more suitable for goats
than for horses to step on. The descent and subsequent ascent, on the
opposite side, to the village of Arádhena, occupied about twenty-five
minutes.
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modern village of Arádhena contains only thirty-eight houses; the ground
capable of cultivation round about it is not very extensive, but is of a
decidedly better quality than that of the plain of Anópolis, as is
evident from the good crops of barley which now cover it. The chief
produce of the village is corn; its silk does not exceed a few okes (1
oká = 1,282 kg) yearly.
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The
path,
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| Pashley
mentions furthermore that a couple of years earlier some ancient graves
had been discovered a kilometre west of Aradena.
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| A
decisive battle took place around the gorge again in 1867, where the
rebels had fortified themselves on the western side and the Turks on the
other. Turkish ships bombarded the rebels from the sea, and they had to
retreat. Aradena was burned down once again.
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is a fascinating sight to stand on the steel bridge, now leading over the
gorge, and look vertically down into the about 100 m deep Aradena Gorge.
The bridge is a gift from the Vardinogiannis brothers, which appears from
the commemorative tablet put up before the bridge. The text reads as
follows: The bridge is a gift from the Vardinogiannis brothers to Agios Ioannis, their native town. It was constructed in December 1986 under the A. Papandreou government. The drilling work and the construction of the foundations took place under the county mayors Loukakis and Pantouvakis, under the county councillor Sifis Manousakas and under the chairman of Agios Ioannis, Theodoros Polyrakis. |
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