Crete, Greece
Balos Lagoon
In Crete we stayed in the South-West, in Frangocastello, a small and quiet village in the Sfakia area. By landing in North, in Chania, I had the opportunity to travel across the island on different roads on the western side. The landscape is arid, the roads crossing the mountains are spectacular, the atmosphere is very rustic.
Imbros Gorge
The Balos lagoon offers a gorgeous scenery, especially seen from above; in my opinion it's well worth taking the trip on a difficult road as well as the physical effort required to get there.
On the way to Balos:
Balos Lagoon
The almost as famous Elafonissi Beach is nowhere near as spectacular.
In the area where we snorkeled the bottom of the sea is unusual, consisting of highly eroded limestone, with a lot of holes and weird formations.
The underwater life is typical for the southern Mediterranean, with octopuses, sea urchins, the usual fish but also Cornetfish, a species native to the Red Sea who got here through the Suez Channel.
Bluespotted cornetfish - Fistularia commersonii
Red Scorpionfish - Scorpaena scrofa
Ornate wrasse - Thalassoma pavo
The strangest creature I saw was a worm species - Bonelia Viridis.
Spoon worm - Bonelia Viridis
We faced unusually strong winds, especially in the evenings.
We visited in a hurry the cities of Rethymno and Chania. Rethymno has a huge beach, crowded and with very shallow water.
Rethymno Beach
Chania is nicer, has an old Venetian port, a lot of cute restaurants and an oriental air.
Chania
The food was very good everywhere in Crete, same as the honey, one of the most common local products.
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Underwater collection on Adobe Stock
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