A lemon tree of our own

The (rocky) road South

Last year, when Claire and I took our road trip around Crete, I seemed to be blogging about it bit-by-bit for months. Despite that, I never quite reached the last day, when we stayed in Frangokastello at Flisvos Apartments, which are literally on the beach. It is a beautiful place, and so this year we took our recent guests there for a day trip.

It was partly because it has a nice beach, partly because it has a castle, and partly because of the spectacular, if terrifying, drive. The journey from Chania to Frangokastello means taking the main road south from Vryses towards Chora Sfakia, and passing through the Imbros Gorge. We though this would give our visitors a taste of the amazing gorge countryside that Crete has to offer, without inflicting the 16km of the Samaria trek on them in 34° heat.

The journey there was more fraught than usual, since a large amount of EU funded work is being done on the road. It is being widened, and some of it is being replaced with tunnels through the mountains. Whilst we totally approve of this work, we weren't quite so happy getting caught up in it.

As it is the only route south, it hasn't been possible to close the road whilst the work is carried out, and so for some parts of the journey, the narrow stretch of road that could barely let two cars pass had been stripped of tarmac, strewn with boulders, and we had to weave our way through rock-drillers, diggers, trucks and workmen.

It was a bit like being in some kind of crazy driving video game - except that you were perched on side of a cliff and the danger was real. We'd certainly earned our lunch and a relax on the beach by the time we reached Frangokastello!

Found at Falasarna

Falasarna has a beautiful long stretch of beach facing west, and we spent a very pleasant afternoon there when we recently had guests. I wandered off to do a bit of exploring and came across a tiny little inlet on the shore which was obviously used as a small harbour. Piled around the harbour were some boats that were looking a little less than seaworthy.

The beach was backed by a rocky cliff filled with caves. I had a good nose around, but was then a bit freaked out to find that someone seemed to be living in the caves, and that there were all sorts of Blair Witch style 'found objects' there!

Beer. Bay. Puppy!

After our trip to see the picturesque Balos lagoon on the Gramvousa Peninsula, we headed to another new destination on the west of the island, Falasarna.

Falasarna is a long strip of beach facing west, and the approach sees you winding down the hillside, passing sign after sign promising the best beach, free parking, the best food and the best apartments. Spoilt for choice, we did what any self-respecting indecisive bunch of people would do - drive on until the road stopped and we had no choices left.

This turned out to be a great idea, as we ended up at a bar with a view out across the whole of Livadi Bay.

A bar with beer...

...and a selection of delicious Cretan snacks...

...and a puppy!!!!!

Here she is dutifully sitting under the table looking forlornly at me in the hope that I'm going to spill some of my food.

Stunning graffiti on the road back from Gramvousa

We made a stop on our descent from the Gramvousa Peninsula. Our driver was happy because she got to take a break from the perilous road, and I was happy because I got to take photographs of this amazing bit of graffiti that adorns a lump of seemingly random concrete next to the road.