Lasithi Plateau

---

03 October 2014

We drove back up into the generally barren mountainous interior. Our destination was the Lasithi Plateau a large fertile plain 900m above sea level, set amid the mountains of the Dikti range and dotted with 20 villages. The unusual feature of the area are the remains of some 20,000 windmills with white canvas sails which were installed by the Venetians in the 17^th century to help with irrigation.

We returned to the north coast and stayed at one of the few campsites in the area at the resort of Gournes. The site was 15 kilometres east of the capital Iraklio and unfortunately we were right under the flight path of planes bringing tourists into its international airport.

---