The Saracens were not joking. On the contrary.
His mighty armies Islam swept everything from Arabia in their passage during the 7th and 8th centuries, conquering the Middle East, northern Africa and part of Spain.
The Arabs came to occupy a good part of the Mediterranean and in the next century, with the Christian world weakened, they dominated the seas of the region.
The Mediterranean became a "Muslim lake" and the Saracen invaders hit whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. Without significant resistance.
Cities and villages were now looted (9th century) and entire areas were abandoned. Now Malta, Sicily and Crete were under their control, with their radius of action extending across the Mediterranean Sea.
From 828 AD in fact, Crete is one of their most important strongholds, one of the most notorious pirate men of the time.
The Agarins, as Ioannis Damaskinos calls them, held Crete from 828-961, when the Byzantines recaptured it with another general, Nikiforos Fokas.
The Byzantines came to call all the Arabs Saracens indiscriminately, but they knew well and separated the Saracen pirates.
Those that Abu Hafez (Apochapsy is called by Byzantine historians and chronographers) took with him when he was expelled from Spain and transformed into a pirate fleet that instilled fear on all the shores of the Mediterranean.
The characteristic ease with which he made Alexandria of Egypt his base and the equally easy occupation of Crete served as a scare for everyone. Chandakas (Heraklion) is now his new headquarters.
By the time the looting raids on the Byzantine Empire in the 11th century came to an end, the Saracen pirates had left a bleak legacy in Greece, something the Peloponnese unfortunately knew well.
Even today we have place names that testify to the action of the Saracen corsairs. We say Sarakinika and we know them well. After all, all are beaches of special beauty.
The pirates knew if nothing else how to choose their shelters…
The The most famous Sarakiniko in the country It was to be one of the most beautiful beaches in Greece. And the whole of Europe, no doubt!
The popular and lunar landscape coast of Milos with its white rocks and crystal clear waters imposes awe and admiration. It is an exuberant creation of nature, an image that looks the least alien.
There, next to the town of Milos, the Saracens had one of their bases in the Cyclades, supervising from the beach the Sifnos and Kimolos. Today it is a paradise beach of rare beauty.
The volcanic and eroded rocks that penetrate the sea creating small and large caves are immortalized in the lens of anyone on the island, giving marine experiences out of the ordinary.
The Saracens once moored their pirate ships in these caves around the sea, protecting them from the waves. They themselves rested in the recesses of the rocks on the beach, where today we make our carefree dives. The locals say that if you look closely, you might see some bindings from those years…
One of the most beautiful beaches Gavdou, very close to the port of Karave, once again echoes the terrifying action of the Saracens. Vacationers who choose it for free camping will of course not think about it a second time, as the landscape overwhelms you and you forget everything.
The endless sandy beach, the dunes and the cedars end here in shallow and crystal clear waters, being an attraction for swimming or free camping on the magnificent beach. Time flows slowly and lazily and every bit invites you to relax and indulge in the many attractions of Gavdos.
And do not think that what was once Sarakiniko, one of the bases of the terrible corsairs in Crete after its occupation. Gavdos has always been strategically positioned, which is why everyone passed through here in the course of history.
During the Saracens, however, we are told that the island ended up almost uninhabited.
On another island, in the central part of Evia, this time, we find another proof of the black action of the Saracens in Greece. Shortly after the beach of Vlachia and near Saint Anna you will see a wild spectacle that will convince you that the pirates knew how to choose bases.
Dark pebbles, deep green-blue waters, all immersed in the green nature and the green. An untouched paradise, so rugged and inaccessible that the road that descends to the shore remains, is waiting to amaze you with its incomparable graces.
The Saracens knew the beach well and moored their ships on the small rocky islet of the bay, operating as a first class natural hiding place. Their hideout kept its name on Ottoman, Sarakina was called that now.
At the place where the church of Agios Georgios is built today, it is said that it was their fortress, where the rich loot was hidden.
Local tradition also tells us that the islet opposite the settlement was named "Xerokaravos" precisely because the prayers of the inhabitants were heard and the pirate ship that was coming for another raid magically petrified before reaching the shore.
Here again we have one of the most beautiful beaches in Greece and the whole Mediterranean, the famous Simos twin beach. This is how everyone knows him, there in the south of the island, except that Simos consists of the small beach (Little Simos), Frangos, and the big one (Big Simos), Sarakiniko.
Tseratsiniko you will hear the locals say it, echoing the gloomy heritage of the Saracens. Here we have a huge sandy beach that plays with white and gold, depending on the whims of the sun, hosting endemic flora that is not found anywhere else in the world.
The bay of Sarakinikos was used as a base not only by the Saracens, but also by the pirates of Malta and Barbaria, when it was not an English and French naval base.
A place of bestiality and horror was once the beach of incomparable beauty that you can not get enough of seeing. But also important decisions for the Greek nation, since Sarakiniko was one of the bases of the allied fleet during the Battle of Navarino in October 1827.
However, it became known as Sarakiniko, from the pirates who once crossed the straits between Elafonisos and Kythera bet with all odds against…
So close to Parga, and yet so far away, we encounter another pirate remnant. After the village of Agia we are in clear blue waters and incredible age-old olive groves in the background. A small bay is with white sand and pebbles waiting to captivate you with its beauty.
Here the legend wants the Saracens to be shipwrecked on the shores, when a summer storm crashed their boat on the rocks. Their folk tradition wants them to ask for help from the locals, pretending to be unlucky merchants. The hospitable locals not only helped them repair their boat, but even invited them to the village wedding.
The pirates had dark plans in mind, to plunder the place. But the bride understood them and warned the villagers. When the pirates caught their swords, the locals were ready, chasing them to shore.
Whatever happened next, even the Saracens would be enchanted by the exceptional sunset you enjoy from the beach. What happened to the Saracens, no one can say, however, the legends mention another pirate action in the area. And many Saracen anchorages.
Today these have been forgotten and Sarakiniko is one of the most beautiful beaches in mainland Greece…