Overview

The village Houdetsi is located in Creta, in a distance of 20 klm south of the airport and port of the city of Heraklion, in 450 m altitude. The population of the village is 1100 people. It is a traditional village of great beauty, which continuously grows and has many buildings of traditional architecture. 

According to some venetian and turkish documents, the name of the village was first mentioned in 1279 A.C. but some archaeological excavations and findings show that it must have existed since the minoan epoch or even before. There are different versions of myths in relation to the source of the name. Paul Faure claims that the  word ‘Houdetsi'; comes from the word ‘quds';, meaning saint, without explaining the reason for that. Maybe due to the fact that there are many churches in the village.

Another belief, according to the narrations of the elderly, is that the first prince to live here was Houndios who also gave his name to the village. The myth says that he was a very rich prince with unprecedent wealth but it is not certain when exactly he settled in the area. We can probably guess some of the reasons that led him to this specific place. The first reason would be the water spring which has plenty of healthy water. This is why the valley close to the spring offers fertile grounds which  can be fully exploitated with farming. Also, the sides of the mountain with the flora  would also offer a great place for the goats and sheep of the prince to graze. The area between the two sides of the mountain was a passage which could be easily controlled by the prince and that may  be another reason which brought him to Houdetsi.

Finaly, another version for the name of the village is that it comes from the connection of the greek words ‘χους'; (ground) and ‘δέος'; (awe), a combination which can be interpreted as you wish ...;