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Published: June 12th 2016
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Friday 10
thJune: off to Falasarna on the west coast of Crete. It had been recommended to us by two long term foreign residents of Crete as a particularly beautiful beach and a nice drive. And so it proved. Less than 26 miles along the E65 main coast highway then on a pretty good country road for the last 5/6 miles. We stopped off for coffee at a restaurant perched high on the ridge overlooking the Bay of Falasarna then headed down past the beaches and through the tiny village to the archaeological site of ancient Falasarna/Phalasarna. Not much to see there as the place had been pretty comprehensively destroyed by earthquakes centuries ago; and it fact although the legend of Falasarna had been passed down its actual location was lost until it was rediscovered in the 19th century – almost inevitably by a British traveller. After exploring the site we had a look at the beach which was very nice, though the sea is still quite cold, and then looked for somewhere to have a late lunch. None of the three places recommended to us looked very inviting so we headed back up the mountain to a restaurant that had been
Falasarna Big Beach
This is the favourite weekend getaway for Chania residents; and it's not hard to see why recommended in our guide book, and it proved to be a good call with very tasty local vegetables. Then back to Agia Marina and later on dinner at a nearby restaurant recommended by our neighbours from Cwmbran: a bad call.
Saturday 11
th June: The plan for the day was to drive across the island and have a look at the Imbros Gorge walk as we were not too keen on trying the much more popular, and strenuous, Samaria Gorge walk (over 10 miles long and involving a 6am pick-up and 8.30pm return). This turned out to be a good call, as we had a leisurely drive along the north coast then turned inland and along the excellent cross-island highway, up into the White Mountains to a village called Ammoudhari on the scenic Askifou plateau where we stopped for coffee. Then on just a couple of miles to Imbros for a look at the start of the gorge walk. We continued down the mountain to the village of Komitades where the gorge emerges on to the coastal plain to have a look at the end of the walk. We were assured by the owner of the taverna at
the “Official exit of the Imbros Gorge” that the walk would take two hours, and that he could arrange for us to be taken back up the mountain to the start of the walk. Seemed very doable so we had a quick lunch and then rode back up the very steep switchback road up the mountain to Imbros and the start of the walk. The walk was not difficult provided one was careful to watch one’s footing as the path was mostly loose stones. We met several people walking up the Gorge and very few of them seemed to be enjoying it: perhaps they had realised that they’d made the wrong choice of direction. We had no problems at all and arrived back at the taverna at the “Official exit” at 4.05pm; 2 hours and 5 minutes after setting off. After a restorative Coke we headed back to the north coast and a very nice dinner at Aptera, where we had visited our first full day here.
In the Wikipedia article about the Imbros Gorge it states:
“The trail is still strenuous, people with over size waist, sandals without socks, and women with elegant shoes covering just their Spot the archaeologist
Ancient Falasarna: the open area was once the town harbour connected by a channel to the sea. The former stone wharf can be seen on the right. And the archaeologist is the small white figure in the centre background. toes, suffer”
Sound advice, if somewhat obvious
Note: there are lots more photos below and if you double click on any of them you will get an enlarged image
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