The tale of the south.

The south of Crete is less accessible due to the fact that the roads are quite old, very narrow and loaded with sharp turns.
But, come on, it sounds like an invitation to some fun. We would never say ‘no’ to such an adventure!
So we got in the car and went straight (hahahaha, wish it had been possible) to the bottom of the island.

The roads were an adventure, indeed.
Markets and animals in the middle of a busy road right in the town centre.
Hundreds of sharp turns with no visibility at all (we almost died – like twenty five times – when a huge lorry appeared in front of us, totally out of nowhere ).

We decided to visit three places:
1. Votomos Lake.
2. Matala.
3.Phaestos.

Ad. 1.
The lake is hidden in the mountains, near a lovely village of Zaros.
The only thing that surprised us was the size of the lake – it’s really small.
But walking around in tree shades was quite comforting.
We played one of our favourite holiday games: ‘Spot the…’ – this time it was a ‘turtle’. They hide under water very quickly so it was difficult to take a decent photo.
Btw, can you spot the turtle in picture no 5? 🙂

Ad. 2.
People say it’s one of the most famous beaches on Crete, widely visited by the hippies in the 60’s (even Bob Dylan couldn’t resist the temptation).
But, to be honest, when it comes to the beauty of the place… such an overstatement!
Crowded. Dirty. With rough sea.
I took photos of the caves and we headed back to the car.

Ad. 3.
Forget about Knossos! Come to Phaestos!
We didn’t plan it, but it was a good decision to visit the place.
Lovely! With huge rosemary and lavender bushes! 🙂
The ruins of the castle are much smaller than the ones in Knossos (I’ll cover the topic in some other post), but more intimate to sightsee (fewer tourists know about the place and care to find it on the map).

The last photo is the only documented sharp turn we’ve got. Not the most impressive one, though.