Crete is Much More Than Just Beaches
We recently read this descriptive and informative article by Jane Foster of the Observer, about Crete and some out-of-the-way destinations there.
Some villagers in the small town of Vamos decided to form a co-op, fixing up stone cottages to be used as guest houses, and offering cooking lessons in a renovated oil press, communal meals on a long wooden table outside, and hiking tours through the nearby hills past frescoed Byzantine chapels.
“Spring is the perfect season for hiking in Crete as the days are mild and the meadows speckled with wild flowers. From the village, I set off along a marked trail leading through woodland and olive groves and past two 12th-century frescoed Byzantine chapels. It’s possible to join a four-hour guided trek along the length of the green rocky Diktamos Gorge.
“If you come to Vamos in summer, the sea lies less than four miles away, with sandy beaches complete with water-sports facilities at Kalives and Georgioupoli. Autumn brings farm activities such as the grape harvest and wine-making from August through September, production of raki in October, and the olive harvest from November to late December, all of which guests are welcome to help with.”
Thanks, Jane – our already long List of Places We Must Visit just got longer!
When I was a kid we vacationed on Crete for about a month one summer. I believe the place was stayed was called “Elunda Bay” (sp?). At the time it was a family-run cluster of waterfront villas with a restaurant serving home-cooked meals. It was very intimate and rustic, and off the beaten path. Sadly I learned (by flipping through a catalog of cruises and resorts) that there is now a mega-resort which goes by the name “Elunda Bay”, or something of that ilk. I wonder if, in fact, it really is the same place? Tragic, if it’s true.