May 17, 2021
John Freedman
Paradise in the midst of civilization. That is - or, if I may - such are the beaches at Agioi Apostoloi. One would be excused for mixing up the riches of beach in this region that is located just a few kilometers and few minutes' drive west of Chania. All in all there are four beaches here. The one furthest east, a beautiful, broad sand beach that is well hidden from easterly winds, is called Chrissi Akti. Heading west, the next two beaches are located at the end of relatively narrow lagoons. The bus stop for the first of them is called First Beach Agii Apostoli, so we'll call this, the smaller of the two lagoons, the first beach at Agioi Apostoloi, about which more below. Some folks may call it Giannis Beach, or so Google Maps tells us, although I've never heard anyone say that. Next up, heading west, is a third beach that most sources identify as Agioi Apostoloi Beach. And right across the road from there, cutting across a very thin peninsula, we come upon the furthest west beach in this cluster that Google Maps also identifies as Agioi Apostoli, but most people, as I understand it, call Glaros Beach.
In short, one can argue no end about which beach is called what, and which ones belong to the area known as Agioi Apostoloi (named after the local church), but nobody, and I mean nobody, is going to argue whether it's worth coming out here for a good swim! With Glaros facing west, the two lagoons facing north, and Chrissi Akti facing northeast, or even east northeast, you're pretty much guaranteed finding one that is relatively calm no matter what the weather. My wife Oksana and I headed out to the "first" lagoon yesterday morning to catch a relatively early swim before the heat set in. The water was still pretty chilly (okay, it was damn near ice cold) - in part because the water goes deep just a few feet offshore - but, hell, it's May, it's the blue-blue Sea of Crete, and the water just begs you to come in. It took me 3 or 4 minutes before my body was acclimated, and the next 40 minutes were heaven on earth. When the chill of the water began to sink down to our bones, Oksana lay out a towel on the sand so she could warm up, and I headed off into the nearby wilds to take a hike. This is a spectacular place to take walks or short hikes, with the terrain seeming to change every 100 meters or so. There are caves to explore, more tiny lagoons and sea-pools to see, wooded areas, low-brush areas, rocky points and desert-like spaces. There is even a tiny jungle buried down in a deep indentation in the rocks at one point. The wild flowers are not quite as prominent as they would have been a month ago, but there are still lots of them decorating the scenery for the pleasure of our eyes - red poppies, Queen Anne lace, and numerous kinds of ground-hugging beauties in violet, yellow and blue... The closer you stay to the sea, the more there are of that specific Cretan "soft" but durable rock formation which has helped locals build their civilizations from the times of the Minoans on down to the Venetians and Turks. The straight, square cuts in the rocks, though softened now by centuries and even millenia of weather, very clearly show where quarrymen once cut the huge stones that built walls for fortresses, palaces and homes. Finally, we had the feeling yesterday that we were accompanied by angels. Drop down to the last two photos (and a couple before that), and you will see the gossamer wings of guardian angels keeping a watchful eye over everyone below. As the top photo shows, one angel, taking the form of a seagull, kept even closer watch on us.
All text and photos © copyright 2021 John Freedman. If you wish to use any text or photo/s, I will surely be happy to oblige as long as you ask.
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