The headquarters of the pirates who ravaged the southern coast of Crete
On the north side of the island of Chrysi or Gaidouronisi, and a very short distance from the only house that one encounters on its territory, is the cave
It is a peculiar structure that resembles a small artificial stone hill with a door, always closed, which, as its name suggests, probably has a cave-like configuration. Moreover, this has also given its name to the location of the island where it is located.
Tradition has it that the cave of Chrysi was the headquarters of the pirates who ravaged the southern coast of Crete, using the entire island as their base. Of course, then its construction would certainly have been simply stone and would not have had the cement additions that we see today to waterproof its interior.
Piracy as a practice has existed since antiquity. However, there were periods when the phenomenon flourished, such as the time when Crete fell into the hands of the Arabs, and then during the Venetian occupation.
Crete, due to its position as a crossroads of three continents, was the center of the conflicting interests of the Mediterranean peoples and consequently the target of pirate raids that exploited this conflict of interests.
In fact, the Venetians and Ottomans sometimes encouraged pirates and used them according to their interests.
During the 14th century, according to the reports of the Duke of Crete Nicola Gianni, we had frequent pirate raids in Crete.
Algeria was most often the starting point of the pirates who attacked the southern coast of the island.
Due to its location, the islet of Chryssi was a convenient base for them.
Venice, seeing the role played by this particular islet and finding no other way to attack them, granted the island of Chrysi to the noble Andrea Dandolo, on the condition that he build a tower there and supervise so that pirates would not approach it again.
We do not know if this tower was built and what its location was, but tradition mentions the Cave, with its strange appearance, as a base for Algerian pirates.