coal mine

[Chris H.]

As a relative newbe I'm not exactly sure if this has ever been discussed before (could not find anything about it in the search option) but I discovered something on Dutch and German Wikipedia (not the English one mind you!) that may interest you.
I was fooling around a bit and typed Plakias in the various Wikipedia's and some interesting information popped up.
You all know the two openings in the mountain at the end of the Plakias bay. Sitting at Ostraco's terrace one day, sipping our cold beers (sigh!) we noticed that in the smaller opening on the right there seemed to be a rectangular shape (see picture) and the misses and me fantasized for ages what that shape could be. (btw, what a great way to pass a lazy Plakias afternoon) We once took the boat to Prevelli and had a chance to take a better look at it and were convinced that this structure was man made but it stopped at that, no more information.
Wikipedia says that once there was a coal mine run by a German businessman between Plakias and Lefkogia and that there was a lorry track through the mountain to allow ships to take in the coal, they had to do it this way because the water near the coast is to shallow. Apparantly the coal was of such poor quality that it could only be used in steamships. This coal business stopped in 1930. The mine was closed of with concrete only at the end of the 80's because a child drowned there. During world war 2 the Germans made the tunnel longer and made a second and bigger opening in the mountain to enable German submarines to take in food, water and torpedos.
The German Wikipedia also states that the name Plakias comes from a certain kind of sand that is found in many places in the bay. In German it says: 'Sandstein-Platten'  According to the dictionary this means: 'Sandstone-tiling"  Between brackets they also call it: 'Naturzement' , in English this should be: 'Natural cement'.

[Greecemad]

As a relative newbe I'm not exactly sure if this has ever been discussed before (could not find anything about it in the search option) but I discovered something on Dutch and German Wikipedia (not the English one mind you!) that may interest you.
I was fooling around a bit and typed Plakias in the various Wikipedia's and some interesting information popped up.
You all know the two openings in the mountain at the end of the Plakias bay. Sitting at Ostraco's terrace one day, sipping our cold beers (sigh!) we noticed that in the smaller opening on the right there seemed to be a rectangular shape (see picture) and the misses and me fantasized for ages what that shape could be. (btw, what a great way to pass a lazy Plakias afternoon) We once took the boat to Prevelli and had a chance to take a better look at it and were convinced that this structure was man made but it stopped at that, no more information.
Wikipedia says that once there was a coal mine run by a German businessman between Plakias and Lefkogia and that there was a lorry track through the mountain to allow ships to take in the coal, they had to do it this way because the water near the coast is to shallow. Apparantly the coal was of such poor quality that it could only be used in steamships. This coal business stopped in 1930. The mine was closed of with concrete only at the end of the 80's because a child drowned there. During world war 2 the Germans made the tunnel longer and made a second and bigger opening in the mountain to enable German submarines to take in food, water and torpedos.
The German Wikipedia also states that the name Plakias comes from a certain kind of sand that is found in many places in the bay. In German it says: 'Sandstein-Platten'  According to the dictionary this means: 'Sandstone-tiling"  Between brackets they also call it: 'Naturzement' , in English this should be: 'Natural cement'.

Chris,

This is interesting stuff that I didn't know about, but the link to your photograph doesn't work.

Greecemad

Edited 2 minutes later: the link does work now.

[George]

These two holes have always caused an interest and numerous ideas and assumptions have been made including the ones that Chris H has made.
I don't think anyone knows exactly what they were for or how they were created, but I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of it someday!

I'm not too sure about the lorry track, I have never seen any indication that a road has ever been there, or could be there.

The mystery goes on...

george g...

[Chris H.]

George,
Sorry for my poor English. I had to translate from German into English being Dutch myself.
Lorry track should be understood as a track for tiny little trainwagons like this: (see pic)
Does that make more sense?
Chris H.

[George]

Hi Chris
Don't apologise for your English Chris, there is worse than that here and most of them are written by the English.

I'm still not sold on the coal idea, there's still no evidence that a track ever existed. The only pathway to the tunnels is a very narrow foot path/track that does get a bit precarious at times.

george g...

[Peter&Dawn]

These two holes have always caused an interest and numerous ideas and assumptions have been made including the ones that Chris H has made.
I don't think anyone knows exactly what they were for or how they were created, but I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of it someday!

I'm not too sure about the lorry track, I have never seen any indication that a road has ever been there, or could be there.

The mystery goes on...

george g...

I would have thought that if a miniture train track was in place up to the 1930's and the tunnels were then used during the war, there would be a least 1 photograph in existance.
I have never seen one, but somebody on this site may have.

Pete(&Dawn)

[George]

I have never seen one, but somebody on this site may have.

Pete(&Dawn)

This subject has been bought up before on more than one occasion. If someone does have a picture they're keeping it quiet  

george g...

[beachcombers]

Anyway there was coal mining in the area:

This was found on interkriti:

Just before the "KOTSIFOU"  gorge is the road to the village "Kali Sikia" located a few kilometers to the west. The road has on its left the gorgeous summit of "Tsilivdikas" and the impressive "Kaliskiano" gorge.
Kali Sikia, was mentioned by Fr Barozzi at his 1577 census to be comprised of two separate settlements, Pano and Kato Kali Sikia. Emm. Lamprinakis, a teacher from Rethimno, writes that in 1830 Mohamad Ali had a coal mine at Kali Sikia.

Beachcombers
 

[harribobs]

hey up! Leen's back!

we've heard that the tunnels were something to do with coal mining ( i think from babbi) and i think the track is certainly good enough for a small gauge rail track, in fact it makes sense when you look how well and level it is    

however....  the submarine base is fiction to my mind, (we've done this before) submarines need hard shell bases for protection, and the thought of taking or loading torpedoes through that tunnel is not possible

The G7a or G7a/T1 torpedo was the standard issue torpedo for Germany during the early years of World War II. The torpedo was of standard German specifications for all U-Boat torpedoes of the war at 53.3cm (21in) in diameter, 7.163m in length, and with a warhead of 280kg Hexogen.

[Raymond]

I cannot find any reference to coal mining in Crete through either my books or the internet. Crete's subsoil is rich in asbestos, gypsum and lignite. However, only lignite is commercially exploited. I think you may be referring to lignite which is a soft brown coal. Remember Zorba the Greek. That was what he was mining.

Ray

[John R]

Wikipedia says that once there was a coal mine run by a German businessman between Plakias and Lefkogia and that there was a lorry track through the mountain to allow ships to take in the coal, they had to do it this way because the water near the coast is to shallow. Apparantly the coal was of such poor quality that it could only be used in steamships. This coal business stopped in 1930. The mine was closed of with concrete only at the end of the 80's because a child drowned there. During world war 2 the Germans made the tunnel longer and made a second and bigger opening in the mountain to enable German submarines to take in food, water and torpedos.

Babbis of Medousa told me last year (and I thought I had reported this on this forum) that the tunnels ARE part of an ex coal mine. He said the mine was blown up at the start of WW2 to prevent it's use by the Germans.

John R