Advertisement
Published: April 25th 2017
Edit Blog Post
A clear morning at last
View west from hotel. The Chania Peninsula in the far distance Reminder: the panoramic photos at the start of the blog change every 7/10 seconds and give a larger and clearer image than when viewed with the other photos. Also, there are lots more photos below the text if you want to skip the diary details, and if you double click on any of the photos you will get an enlarged, clearer, image. You can return to the text anytime.
Saturday 22nd April: was pretty much a washout as it rained quite heavily and steadily throughout the day. All that we managed was a damp walk to the old town to look for the Archaeological Museum's temporary home, which we found around the corner from the Historical and Folk Art Museum where we'd asked for directions. Of the two the Historical and Folk Art Museum was the more interesting as the Archaeological Museum consisted of just a single room in a converted church with a very limited number of exhibits. The staff told me that the museum had been there for just over one year and they had no idea when they were likely to return to their permanent site next to the Fortezza. Hopefully the permanent site will
Welcome to the Amari Valley
The escarpment which separates the northern Amari Valley from the coast. The road comes over the escarpment to the left of the gorge and to the right of the hump shaped hill on the escarpment be upgraded to the same standard as the Eleutherna Museum. The only other constructive achievement of the day was Jane finding somewhere where she could get a pedicure; otherwise it was a washout.
Sunday 23rd April: a beautiful fine and clear day. The previous day's rain had cleared the sky and the temperature was perfect. So we took the opportunity to revisit the Amari Valley and the ancient site of Syvritos before exploring the southern Amari Valley and on to the south coast resort of Ayia Galini. We had a super drive from Rethymno up into the Amari Valley, then past Patsos Gorge and on up to Thronos. I was properly kitted out this time but didn't need the cold weather gear because it was such a nice warm day. It was a 20 minute walk up to the top of the hill where the main Syvitros site is located. A big added bonus was that Mount Psiloritis which looms over the valley was clear of clouds and looking magnificent (the god Zeus is supposed to have been born on a cave near the summit and I'm sure that he would have appreciated the fine weather and great views).
The site was only partly excavated and not very interesting but the views from the top of the hill more than compensated. We also met a local named Giorgiou from a nearby village who was foraging for mushrooms and wild herbs. He told us that he worked in Rethymno during the week and came home to his village for the weekends. He'd formerly been a sailor and had visited Liverpool and Greenock: nice bloke. After savouring the views and scents, mayflower and wild jasmine, we returned to the car and headed south for the village of Amari; the prettiest village in the valley according to our guide book. We found Amari easily enough and it's certainly very pretty, and many of the houses have been renovated to a high standard: making me think that maybe they'd been sold as holiday homes to outsiders. We couldn't confirm this as there was nowhere to have lunch and gather more information. So we returned to a junction on the valley floor where we'd seen a taverna and had lunch there; a traditional Cretan meal of roast lamb and boiled runner beans. After a leisurely lunch we had a look around an unused monastery
across the road then headed south towards Ayia Galini. The road wound around the valley side then finally descended steeply to the coast. Ayia Galini was a bit of a let down and we didn't find it very attractive, but it's nevertheless a very popular tourist destination. The drive back to Rethymno was good taking us along a valley below some stupendous mountains and through some attractive towns. A really good day .
Advertisement
Tot: 0.185s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 10; qc: 24; dbt: 0.1616s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb