By John Freedman Originally posted elsewhere on June 30, 2019
Reposted on Contemplating Crete April 11, 2021
Note: This title may be misleading. But first let me say I originally intended to write today about several beaches just to the east of Paleochora (PaleeOchora). There is a string of gorgeous, wide, mostly unpopulated beaches that begin just after you leave the last of the major city dwellings heading east. My quick internet research revealed that the first of them is called Keratides. Further on down the picturesque dirt road you encounter two well-known beaches – Gialiskari, and Sandy Beach. They also appear to share the names Ammoudia and Anydri (taken from the nearby Anydri Canyon). Both have small parking lots and chaises with thatched umbrellas. But I’ll write about them some other day, because my wife and I ended up swimming for several hours on a swath of rocky beach that was so gorgeous it consumed my attention as a photographer. And for the life of me I can’t find a name for it on the net. It is the huge stretch that opens up after what appears to be the end of Keratides, but ends before connecting with Gialiskari. (See the screenshot from Google maps below – it’s the area just above what look like several huge underwater rocks just right of middle.) This may just be an unnamed beach, in which case we once again confront the truth that Crete is a true beach-hunters paradise. The refreshing, cool, crystal-clear, and highly saline waters of the Libyan Sea are a swimmer’s dream. The rocky beach and shoreline sea-bed are such that you may prefer to wear your rubber-bottomed sea slippers. We did and we navigated all the entries and exits easily. There are plenty of wide spots in the road to park your car and the beach is only seconds away via a gently sloping decline. If you hit a day like we did (a Saturday when the beach-seekers are out enforce) you can expect to share several kilometers of beach with five or six other swimmers. Some wear swimsuits, some don’t. And, believe me, there is no one there to care whether they do or not. Paleochora is about a 90-minute drive from Chania by way of a wide, well-kept road, and – naturally – several picture-perfect villages with plenty of enticing tavernas. All text and photos © 2019 John Freedman. If you wish to reproduce, repost or use any of the text or any photo, please ask for permission. Renewal of copyright © 2021 John Freedman.
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