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Day 4: Exploring South-Western Crete

July 10, 2021May 1, 2022, Crete Trip Reports
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This post is part of a series called Greek Odyssey 2021
Show More Posts
  • An Exciting Journey Begins
  • Touring Greece Without a Plan
  • Day 1: Crete Arrival
  • Day 2: It’s Windy in Palaiochora
  • Day 3: Palaiochora Morning Exercise
  • Day 4: Exploring South-Western Crete
  • Day 5: Grammeno Beach Again
  • Day 6: Finally the Wind Dies Down
  • Day 7: Elafonissi Beach
  • Day 8: Last Time at Grammeno Beach
  • Day 9: Last Day in Palaiochora
  • Day 10: Road Trip Across Crete
  • Day 11: Preveli and Agia Galini
  • Day 12: Phaistos and Matala
  • Day 13: Gortyn, Heraklion and Sitia
  • Day 15: Karpathos Arrival
  • Day 16: Karpathos Beach Day
  • Day 17: Karpathos Beach Day…Again
  • Day 18: Ammopi Beach by Bus
  • Day 19: Exploring Karpathos by Car
  • Day 20: Rhodes Arrival
  • Day 21: Exploring Rhodes Town
  • Day 22: Rhodes Town Beach
  • Day 23: Rhodes to Tilos
  • Day 24: Cutting Tilos Short
  • Day 25: Kos Town Beach Day
  • Day 26: Kos Car Hire
  • Day 27: Kos Beach Day Again
  • Day 28: Kos Town Hotel Move
  • Day 29: Why I’m Still on Kos
  • Day 30: Ed Arrives on Kos
  • Day 31: Boat Trip with Ed
  • Day 32: Road Trip (with Ed!)
  • Day 33: Ed Departs, I Remain
  • Days 34-36: Nothing But The Pool
  • Day 37: Back to Kos Town
  • Days 38-41: Living Life in Kos Town
  • Day 42: Visiting Tigaki
  • Day 43: Moving Hotel Room
  • Day 44: Moving Hotel Room Part 2
  • Day 45: Last Gym Session on Kos
  • Day 46: Kos Final Full Day
  • Day 47: Kos to Amorgos
  • Day 48: Amorgos to Naxos
  • Day 49: Relaxing in Agia Anna / Plaka Beach
  • Days 50-51: Agia Anna
  • Day 52: Exploring Naxos by Car
  • Day 53: Naxos to Ios
  • Day 54: Exploring South Ios Magganari Beach
  • Day 55: Ios Agia Theodoti Beach
  • Day 56: Ios Chill Day
  • Day 57: Ios Psathi Beach and Palaiokastro
  • Day 58: Ios Last Full Day
  • Day 59: Ios to Sikinos
  • Day 60: Relaxing on Sikinos
  • Day 61: Sikinos Sightseeing
  • Day 62: Sikinos to Sifnos
  • Day 63: Sifnos Cloudy First Day
  • Day 64: More Clouds Over Sifnos
  • Day 65: Sifnos Sunshine
  • Day 66: Mum and Dad Arrive on Sifnos
  • Day 67: Mum and Dad’s First Full Day on Sifnos
  • Day 68: Bus Trip to Apollonia
  • Day 69: Sun, Sand and Sea on Sifnos
  • Day 70: Exploring Sifnos by Car
  • Day 71: More Sifnos Sightseeing
  • Day 72: Our Last Full Day
  • Day 73: Homeward Bound
  • Greek Odyssey 2021: Retrospective

Saturday 10th July 2021

Escaping the Wind…or not!

The strong winds we’d been experiencing over the past two days showed no sign of easing today. To avoid a repeat of yesterday’s itinerary, we decided to use the hire car to explore some of southwestern Crete. As I mentioned before, this was my first time in the area despite having visited Crete many times over the years.

My parents suggested we could visit Frangokastello, which is further east along the southern coastline, then take in some other places on the way back. Although Frangokastello is less than 50km as the crow flies, there is no direct coastal road between it and Palaiochora. The only way to reach it involves driving all the way north towards Chania, east across the northern highway and then turning south again across the island. It’s a 2.5-hour drive, but as we planned to make a day of it the long journey was fine.

Castle Closed

The drive was through some pretty mountain roads and traffic was almost non-existent, something I find hard to get used to compared with British roads. As we neared Frangokastello, we stopped at a high viewpoint over the south coast but it was so windy we could barely open the car doors! When we finally arrived in the village, there was a slight disappointment that one of the main sights, Frangokastello fortress, was closed for renovation.

We still enjoyed a stroll around for some photos of the area, including the nice resort beach.

Frangokastello beach is nice but quite exposed on windy days!

We contemplated having lunch in the village but decided to backtrack to Hora Sfakion first and see if we could find somewhere nicer there instead.

Hora Sfakion

A few kilometres west of Frangokastello lies Hora Sfakion. It’s well known for local ferry connections and is popular with hikers, especially those tackling Samaria Gorge.

Arriving at Hora Sfakion

It’s a strange village, nestled into a small bay harbour, but has quite a nice vibe and a good selection of tavernas and shops.

Hora Sfakion harbour

We ate pork gyros at a snack bar, and then had a stroll around before heading back to the car for the return journey. Our intention was to stop in Chania as we would be driving past it anyway, even though I’d visited it on a previous trip during a sightseeing drive across the island.

Chania

Chania bay

It was quite busy in Chania, despite the pandemic and its effect on tourism. We had a nice walk around the harbour and stopped for coffee and ice cream at a nearby cafe.

Chania bay from the opposite direction

Back to Palaiochora

By the time we’d arrived back in Palaiochora, it was a little after 6 pm. We returned to our rooms for a quick rest and shower, then met for dinner, this time trying a taverna called Angel (opposite Aristea where we had eaten on our first night).

Posted in Crete, Trip Reports
Tagged Chania, Crete, Palaiochora, stansted
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Will Appleby
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   Day 3: Palaiochora Morning Exercise
Day 5: Grammeno Beach Again   

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Will Appleby

Listen to my ramblings about Greece and why I keep going back year after year.

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