I've divided up our trip into several different posts, by theme, rather than chronologically. More will appear soon. Today's topic: the beaches!
We arrived in Crete on Wednesday afternoon, July 29. Our first trip to the beach was on Thursday morning, a short drive to a place called Agia Pelagia.
Many of the Crete beaches are small bays, with clear water, and varying amounts of waves. Agia Pelagia is small and shielded from any rough sea. The water was warm, but cooled us off in the hot sun. Very enjoyable!The next day, Friday, we went to Plaka, on the edge of Elounda, not far from the city of Agios Nikolaos (translation: St. Nicholas). The first beach we went to had large stones that were hard to walk on, so we drove a bit further down to a beach with shallower water and smaller pebbles.
Across the water from where we sat we could see Spinalonga, an old Venetian fortress that used to guard entrance to the bay, and was later turned into a leper colony! We had a pizza lunch in Agios Nikolaos.On Saturday, we went to one of the many beaches near Chersonisos, a very touristy, crowded location. The water was rough, and though we had fun, I'd say this beach was the low point, despite what the tourist books say.
On Sunday we drove to Rethymno, a pretty city to the west of Iraklio. After lunch there, we began to drive to Chania, the prettiest Cretan city in my estimation, and stopped at a beach along the way. This was the largest beach we went to, with vast amounts of sand, but with very few people on it. The waves were probably the biggest we encountered (though not very big by most standards!). Reminded me very much of an American beach, e.g., in southern California.
On Monday, after spending the night in Chania, we drove south through the mountains to Elafonisi, in the southwest.
The water is very shallow between the mainland and a small island several hundred feet out. Never more than 4 feet deep probably, and crystal clear. Check out this satellite photo. This was nearly everyone's favorite beach, almost like a vast, outdoor pool (with sand and salt water!).We drove back to Chania to catch the sunset, before proceeding back to Iraklio.
On Tuesday we drove south to Sivas, where Polyvios' father grew up. The family still owns and maintains an olive grove nearby and we stayed in Polyvios' grandparents' old house. In the afternoon, we went to Matala, famously a popular site with hippies in the sixties.
Next to the beach are a series of caves that served as a Roman cemetary. We could climb around inside them and see faint remnants of cave paintings. I wonder what the caves were used for by the hippies ... ?On Wednesday we went to what was my favorite beach, Agiofarago, which means "Holy Gorge." It is so named because the beach at the mouth of the gorge is reputedly the site at which St. Paul landed toward establishing the Christian church at Crete. It's a rough drive through most of the gorge, concluding with a half-mile hike to the beach. All around us were goats climbing the cliff walls. It was quite astounding to see how agile they are, and how fearlessly they climb the hundreds of meters' high sheer cliff faces! Here's a small byzantine Church in the gorge still in occasional use by nearby monks; notice the goat on the roof!
The beach itself was idyllic - nearly empty, with deep blue water that was clear and cool. The water became deep very quickly. If you looked down you could see your feet just below you, and apparently the sea floor just below them. But if you then stuck your face in the water, it would be apparent that the sea floor was 30 feet below you! We spent the whole day there relaxing and swimming.
On Thursday we drove back to Iraklio, prepared to fly back to London the following day. It had been an exhausting but wonderful exploration of Crete's many beautiful beaches!
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