The Libyan Sea

From Kato Zakros we head south to Xerokambos Beach.  It is possibly Crete's most remote beach.  A small collection of homes and villas, a handful of people, no organised sunbeds or umbrellas, just sand and a vast expanse of the clearest turquoise water.  I think it's the most beautiful we have seen in Crete.  So cool and refreshing we didn't want to get out of the water.

And as if the beauty of Xerokambos isn't enough, there are incredible views as we drive over the mountain from Xerokambos to Makrigialos, where we stayed for five days.

As we leave the beach, the road snakes  and zigzags its way up, up, up.  The road is lined with wild herbs flowering purple and yellow, there are colourful collections of bee hive boxes responsible for producing Crete's wonderful pure mountain thyme honey.  We stop a few times to marvel at the vista, breathe in the air, and to take a few pictures of the mountain bee boxes.

It's very hot and we're so looking forward to this dip!

We voted you #1, Xerokambos!

Remote and serene, this is pristine Xerokambos Beach.

Flowering herbs cover both sides of the road and the foothills.
We see the purple wild thyme all over south east Crete.

Just a tiny section of the winding road from Xerokambos
to the top of the mountain road that takes us to Makrigialos and
the Libyan Sea.

Don't be deceived by these pretty bee hives on the steep
mountain above Xerokambos.  They are very friendly bees,
but they DO NOT like having their picture taken.  Perhaps
they thought I was coming to steal away with Queen B, such
was their swift response to my visit.
I once heard that a remedy for a bee sting is to apply
honey to the site.  Fortunately, we had purchased our first pot of Cretan
honey the day we arrived in Agios Nikolaos, and in the car it was stored right
at my feet.  As Mr Three Summers removed the honey bee
stings from my head, neck, finger and leg, I remembered this
remedy. We slapped liberal globs of honey all around and
I can now confirm the efficacy of that remedy I heard so many
years ago!  Moral of the story:  If you decide to stop
and take pictures of Cretan honey bee boxes, be sure to have
a jar of honey within arm's reach :)

Makrigialos is a small fishing village on the Libyan Sea.  This south east corner of Crete is definitely off the main tourist route.  There are tourists of course, but it's quieter, there are no tour buses or day boats, and Heraklion airport is at least two hours drive.

Purely by coincidence we are in Makrigialos during its annual Casa dei Mezzo Music Festival.  Four days of music concerts held at Villa Casa dei Mezzo, just a short drive out of town overlooking the sea.  We decide to go to the finale concert on Sunday night.  Evangelos and Delores, owners of our favourite taverna Stratos, tell us that there is no parking at Casa dei Mezzo, 'just wait on the side of the road in the town, any time between 8 and 9pm and a minivan will come and take you to the concert; no need to buy a ticket in advance, you can buy one when you arrive'.  It all sounds a little casual, but we follow these instructions and sure enough, at 8.45pm after a few minutes wait on the side of the dusty road, a mini van arrives and ferries us and other concert goers up the hillside of olive groves to the stone villa.  Twenty euros is all it costs for a ticket to what has been described as "the most unique and intimate classical music summer concert in Europe".

Stratos Taverna and the beautiful shady weeping mulberry trees.

We went there for each lunch and dinner. No need to
try other taverna when you find a perfect one.

On our first morning in Makrigialos we made our usual breakfast of
fruit and yoghurt, then went out to find coffee.  We saw Delores
sitting in the shade at the front of Stratos. 'Kalimera', she smiled.
'We open at 11am'.  'We'll come back for coffee at 11', I said.
"Oh, if you want coffee I'll make it for your now". And that's
how we came to have our coffee each morning sitting under the
weeping mulberry trees at Stratos Taverna.  Efharisto, Delores!

Evangeleos' dolmades and octopus in lemon and olive oil.

Just a few steps from taverna to beach.

The terrace of Villa Casa dei Mezzo was set up with lighting, microphones and perhaps 100 chairs. For two hours from 9.30pm we were treated to a most beautiful night of classical music.  The program included a guitarist from Greece, violinist from Italy, mezzo soprano from Norway, baritone from Germany and an ensemble of base, cello, harpsichord and violin.

It was unforgettable - a beautiful hot summer night of music under the stars, in an olive grove, overlooking the Libyan Sea and the twinkling lights of Makrigialos.

In the forecourt of Casa dei Mezzo before the concert.

The concert was held on the terrace....

...surrounded by olive groves, overlooking the Libyan Sea
and the lights of Makrigialos.

Italian voilinist Francesco Cerrato warms up.

FUN FACT:  A short boat ride from Makrigialos harbour is the island of Koufonisi. As well as
having ancient Minoan ruins Koufonisi was once the source of a valuable dye that was obtained from the shells of sea molluscs and used for the robes of the Emperor.

Dead in Gorge....

.... I mean, In Dead's Gorge 😊.

From Agios Nikolaos we drove east to Mochlos, then Sitia and over the mountain to the sea at Kato Zakros.  We stayed for three days in a stone cottage right beside the beautiful beach, the archaeological excavations of the Minoan Palace of Zakros, and The Gorge of the Dead (or Dead's Gorge as it is also named).  Not a bad location at all!

Gorge of the Dead sounds quite ominous until we discover that it is so named because the Minoans buried their dead in the caves of the gorge.

Zakros is actually two villages literally divided by the gorge;  Ano Zakros at the top of the mountain and Kato Zakros down on the beach.

On the first morning we were up early and walked to the beach where we had arranged for Manolis, the friendly taxi driver from Ano Zakros, to collect us and drive us up the mountain to the head of the gorge.  Manolis pointed us in the right direction and waved us off wishing us 'good walking in the Deads'.

Through the start of the gorge we walked down hill, it's quite steep and we scramble over rocks, all the time picking our way by finding the rocks blazed with a red lick of paint.
Red dots show us the way .....

It's green and forested, there's trickling water, a small stream to rock-hop across, goats with tinkling bells, and masses and masses of aromatic wild herbs.  It's stunning, the sights and smells.

Part of Dead's Gorge walk is along the E4, the European long distance path that begins in Portugal, travels through Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, (including Crete) and ends in Cyprus.

As we descend lower into the gorge it becomes more rocky, less green.  Before long we see the sheer orange faces of the gorge walls and we begin to walk along the floor of the gorge.  More stunning-ness.

If you ever want to feel like you're alone on this planet, a walk along the floor of Dead's Gorge will do that.

Even though we left early, after two hours walking the sun is getting higher and it's hot.  We stop from time to time, drink water, take pictures, cooo-eee, and marvel.  In just under three hours we emerge from the Gorge and it's a right turn to our stone cottage.  We haven't passed a single other hiker.  For those hours the gorge was ours to share with the goats.  We do not turn right, instead we turn left and walk an extra 800m to Kato Zakros beach.  There's a little change hut beside the beach, we change into our swimmers and dive into the beautiful cool water.  It's the most delicious and rewarding swim after our morning hike.

The beach has a row of five tavernas serving very good local food, fish and coffee.  They are all good though we like Tavena Glaros best.  Vegetables are grown in their own garden out the back.  Coffee is served with a slice of courgette cake, and as is usual in Greece and the Aegean each tavernas has a few sunbeds and umbrellas directly in front.  We made good use of them over our days in Kato Zakros.  It was utterly gorge-ous.

Mochlos village, on the way to Kato Zakros.

The bougainvillea series continues.

Up over the mountain looking back at Mochlos.
Tiny Mochlos island has excavated remains of a
Minoan settlement. 

This way 

We walked a small section of the E4.

Following the leader.... and the red dots into Dead's Gorge.

This massive oak - we could hardly distinguish what was rock and what was tree.

Finding those dots.

Descending into the Gorge.

Taking a breather.

Sheer walls are dotted with caves that served the Minoans as burial caves.

See the path?  Sort of.  The smell was beautiful. And the silence.

Orange walls

Collecting wild figs along the way.

Taverna Glaros on Kato Zakros beach.

Our lovely stone cottage.

The archaelogical excavations of the Minoan Palace of Zakros.

Rambling through the excavations.  

This staircase is about 2,500 years old.

Tiny Kato Zakros, the picturesque bay and the imposing hills around.

Fun Fact:   Crete is closer to Africa than it is to Athens.  North Africa is just across the Libyan Sea. In spring the wind - the sirocco - comes blowing all the way from the Sahara.

To Crete, to Crete

We took a flight from Rhodes to Heraklion's Nikos Kazantzakis airport in Crete. We collected our rental car (dubbed 'the black arrow' - my huckleberry friend says it wouldn't 'pull the skin off a custard') and headed east to our first destination, Agios Nikolaos on the beautiful Bay of Mirabello.  Crete is the largest of the Greek islands, and the fifth largest in the Mediterranean (Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, Corsica, Crete).

We first visited Crete in 2015 and although we spent three weeks driving around and exploring its beauty and history, we felt that we had merely touched the surface of this seductive island.  During that trip we met a Cretan woman who said, 'you may visit the cities or towns of Crete, then you may drive around Crete, but it is only when you walk Crete that you really see it'.  So this trip we've planned more driving (to new places and returning to some that we love), and plenty of walking (through villages and olive groves, along coastal paths and beaches, and through some of Crete's lovely gorges).

If you think of the shape of Crete as, roughly, a row of four rectangles, each rectangle is a distinct region each with its own capital and mountain range.  From west to east the regions (or nomos) are;
Chania with the Lefka Ori, or White Mountains
Rethymnon with Mt Psiloritis
Heraklion and the Ida mountains
Lassithi with the Dikti and Thripti mountains.

Our plan is to spend a week in each nomos and we begin our month in Crete in the east, Lissithi.

Agios Nikolaos, capital of Lissithi, is a pretty tourist town set around a port lined with fishing boats, tour boats, tavernas, cafes and shops.  Connected to the port by a small channel and bridge is Lake Voulismeni, lined with cafes and tavernas on one side and steep cliffs on the other.

We stayed four nights in Agios Nikolaos in an apartment overlooking the Bay.  Each morning took the walking path around the bay and swam at Kitroplateia Beach.  In the town we bought our first jar of Crete's famous mountain honey, traditional sheep's yoghurt, and a bottle of pure sunshine - Crete's finest olive oil.  It's good to be back!

We took a day trip along the coast through Eloundra to the tiny fishing village of Plaka and for 8 euros a boat sailed us over to the island of Spinalonga.

Spinalonga is steeped in history, both fascinating and tragic.   Originally it was part of the mainland and during Venetian rule the peninsula was excavated and a defensive fort built right around the remaining island. Ottoman Turks captured the island in the 1700s; it was a refuge for the local Ottoman population during the Cretan revolt in the 1800s, and right up to the early 19th century.   For me though, the most interesting part of Spinalonga's history are the years 1903-1957 when it was a leper colony; Europe's last active leper colony.

Walking around Spinalonga's fortifications and the remaining Venetian and Ottoman buildings and streets is fascinating.  We walked under 'the leper's entrance', a huge stone tunnel through the walls which is also called Dante's Gate, we climbed to the top, and could walk over and through the crumbling old houses and shops.

Spinalonga was a feared destination.  Lepers often lived destitute and in hiding for fear of being exiled to the island.  In reality, lepers arriving at the colony lived in the old Venetian houses or in newly-built rooms, they opened shops, grew food, got electricity before the mainland villages did, had a hosptial, and a form of local govenment.  They were able to receive medical care and live without shame.

We walked along the top of the bastion walls, circumnavigating the island, and saw the leper's cemetery and the old church.

We took the boat back to Plaka and sat under the shade of an old carob tree.  Although Plaka is tiny, there is a vibrant little collection of shops selling local ceramic.  After lunch we took the coast road back to Agios Nikolaos.  Such a beautiful day.

Pretty Agios Nikolaos

The fishermen's church on the shore of lovely Lake
Voulismeni is carved out of the rock.

Kitroplateia beach day.

Lunch overlooking Mirabello Bay.

The Europa Sculpture.  Completely coincidentally,
the bull's penis is literally pointing to the exact apartment
we stayed in at Agios Nikolaos!
"Europa is my name.  I am the daughter
of the Phoenician King Aginoras and
mother of King Minos creator of the
Minoan civilisation" - inscription on the statue

Lunch under the carob tree, Plaka.

From Spinalonga island to the mainland.

Exploring Spinalonga

Leper's Gate

Walking Spinalonga's Venetian walls.

Pretty local ceramics for sale in Plaka.

Agios Nikolaos harbour.

Little Lake Voulismeni.

I took this picture of a poster advertising Greece's
very first cliff diving competition.  On the steep cliff
on one side of Agios Nikolaos's Lake Voulismeni
there is a platform that the divers will plunge from.
The picture shows LakeVoulismeni and pretty
Agios Nik behind.  We're thinking we might drive back
to watch the spectacle on 2 July.

Fun Fact:  Mikey Mouse's father, Walt Disney, holidayed at Agios Nikolaos in the 60s  It was the setting of his 1964 movie The Moon Spinners with Hayley Mills.  I remember watching that movie when I was 8 or 10 years old (Sunday night's Disneyland).  It must have been shown as a two-part movie, and I only every saw one part.  I LOVED it, and at the time I didn't understand that it's exotic setting was Crete and I never knew (or remembered) the name of the movie.  Mystery solved half a century later!