I live in Crete island, in Greece.
For you who may not know it, Crete is not only the largest island of Greece, but as per the Greek mythology, it is the birth place of Greek God, Zeus, the father of human & gods. Zeus is believed to have had secretly paired with the beautiful Europe (a nymph), who gave her name to the European continent.
But lets travel back to the present. For now.
Crete is known for its dreamy beaches. You can find both sandy ones and also wild ones with impressive stone formations. There are many visitors from around the world who usually come between the months of March/April to October/November
During the winter, the island is more quiet. Life goes on normally, and there is still much to do. It does not rain so much on our island. It also does not snow so much. Only in specific regions, that are usually in a higher altitude (than the one I live in)
So today, we decided to leave our haven and ... go over to the Mountains! To see, feel and sense .. the SNOWY MOUNTAINS!!
The only place where snow was abundant was Rethymno municipality, so we visited Anogeia village and went higher to the Ideon Antron. (location details at the end of this post)
This was what we witnessed...
And this is how it all started
The sun was well shining above us.
Sunday today. So, what else to do, than go for a road trip?
With so much sun, we figured that the snow cannot last for long...
So off we went!
The scenery changed the moment we exited the Heraklion Municipality.
Higher and rockier mountains...
When you see this street art, you know that you are at the right direction.
This depicts Nikos Xylouris, one of the most famous Cretan singers, known all around the world.
On the graffiti, a poem by Yiannis Ritsos, well known song of Xylouris..
"Because my brother
We do not sing to be apart from the world
We sing to bring the people together" ..
"Γιατί εμείς δεν τραγουδάμε για να ξεχωρίσουμε απ τον κόσμο
Εμείς τραγουδάμε για να σμίξουμε τον κόσμο.."
After meeting a few beautiful villages, Gonies & Sisarcha, we start to see the snowy fields around us..
What a view!
We just cant have enough ...
The road goes up and up and up
Much much traffic but the end was worth it all
White snow resting on the Cretan fields
Wherever your eye goes, it rests fully ...
This is what winter looks like..
So I guess we need to come here more often...
——-
I tried to get some macro shoots but to be honest, I preferred to watch the scenery and play some snow games :) Fell sometimes too :) haha
Opposite us, the White Mountains.......
And some more snowy corners
As I was told, the snow was not too much, but for this time, it was enough .. my shoes and dressing was not so appropriate
At some point we were hungry, we had to leave.
This was our view on our way home
And this view was right after the snow did not longer appear
I was seeing goats on these rocky places .. Unfortunately they are not visible here but .. I saw them with my eyes (if you notice a white thing on a tree, almost in the middle of the photo, you ll see one of them!)
——
This was it!
A beautiful day that came to an end ...
We came back to our ocean and this is what I would like to tell you!
- Make sure you have appropriate shoes, gloves and jackets with you
- Make sure you have plenty of patience if you visit on Sundays or bank days, because all Cretans visit too.. there were too many cars, and too much waiting time both on the way up and the way down
- Make sure you have something to eat, this way you can stay longer
- Take some extra socks, in case your own socks get wet from the snow
Location - way to Ideon Andron, Anogeia, Rethymno - CRETE - GR
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All images shot on 26/12/2021 with an iPhone
Photographer:
If you wish to use any of my images please ask me
https://www.instagram.com/katycrete/
