Southern Cretan Scenes

Here are a few shots from around the Ierapetra district taken this past few days. Hope you like them...

This and the next four are taken in the tiny village of Kavousi (I keep calling it Karpouzi!). It's a village that's half-lived in and half deserted, but boasts what they claim is the oldest living olive tree in Crete, reputed to be over 3,200 years old. This photo is taken at the point where the inhabited part of the village has a stand-off with the old ruined part.

If walls could talk, eh?

We're staying with good friends in Ierapetra, which is one of our favourite towns in all of Greece. It has tourism, but on a small scale, quite different from Rhodes. It's in a largely agricultural area, so that tends to hold back too much development.

Here are some photos from in and around Ierapetra...

This is the beach at Gra Lygia, about seven km west of the town. The village is rather drab, and the road is lined mainly with businesses and agricultural traders' premises, but the beach is lovely and, as you can see, not particularly busy for August.

Our favourite stop for coffee in the town is the Veterano Bakery café. They do a homemade bougatsa that easily rivals the delicious one we usually succumb to at the Aktaion in Mandraki. Their Freddo espresso is brilliant too.

The 'promenade' in downtown Ierapetra is a delight to stroll along, lined as it is with cafés and restaurants, sandwiched in amongst which are a few tourists shops selling the usual stuff like plastic sandals, sunglasses and souvenirs. They're nowhere near packed with 'lobtser' bodies though.

The plateia in the tiny village of Episkopi.

This building is recently restored and stands beside an old mosque in a quiet square to the west end of town. Once again, it reminds one of parts of the Old Town in Rhodes, and, of course, of the many centuries of Ottoman occupation.

In amongst the low-key action along the town's sea front. You can't get much closer to the sea than this for a meal or a drink, can you?

There's this rather odd and weirdly unused harbour for small craft at the western limit of the town. It's been finished for quite a few years, yet has never yet been put to use. Except, that is, for this lonely chap. 

I'll post lots more yet, so I hope you'll come back for more.