Kazantzakis

"In Crete, the stranger is still the unknown god. Before him all doors and all hearts are opened."

- Nikos Kazantzakis, "Report to Greco"

The flights to and from the Nikos Kazantzakis airport of Iraklio, Crete, that had been suspended due to maintenance work, restarted on Saturday, the Civil Aviation Authority said.

The first flight took place at 3 p.m.

The airport at Iraklio in Crete will be closed between February 19 and 24 as maintenance and repair work is carried out on the runway.

Responding to the announcement, Greek carriers Aegean and Sky Express on Tuesday said that passengers will be rerouted to Hania or Sitia or offered the option of a ferry boat.

The Explorers - Friends of Cultural and Hiking Excursions have planned a three-day trip to the Saronic island of Aegina, starting from and ending at the port of Piraeus, to change the year in an adventurous spirit.

Unknown vandals have desecrated the grave of the renowned Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis (1883-1957), breaking the wooden cross on the tomb located on the Martinengo Bastion, nestled within the walls of his hometown, Iraklio, on the island of Crete.

Ahead of the upcoming elections on Sunday, May 21, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is scheduled to visit the Athens suburb of Zografou Monday. Later in the evening, at 7 p.m., Mitsotakis will address a New Democracy event at the Nikos Kazantzakis Theatre in Iraklio, Crete.

The tourism season for Crete started officially on Wednesday with a flight from Bristol, UK, to the Nikos Kazantzakis Airport at Iraklio. According to the manager of Iraklio's airport, George Pliakas, that flight was the year's first scheduled flight from abroad, while the arrival of a large number of flights is expected on the two days of March 25 and 26, amounting to 30.

The new international airport of Heraklion in Crete will be up and running by the end of 2025. The first of the major projects that will upgrade the infrastructure of the island, corresponding to an investment of about 520 million euros, will replace the existing, overburdened "Nikos Kazantzakis" airport.

SKY express connects Heraklion with 11 popular domestic and European destinations creating bridges throughout Greece with destinations abroad. It upgrades the position of the historic city and of Crete as a whole as a key node of its network and actively contributes to the further development of the island nationally and internationally.

Acclaimed Greek poet and translator Katerina Anghelaki-Rooke died on Tuesday, aged 81.
Anghelaki-Rooke was born in Athens in 1939 and studied in Athens, France and Switzerland.

She obtained a degree from the School of Translators and Interpreters and worked as a professional translator from English, Russian and French into Greek.