After curing our jetlag with lots of food in Heraklion, we rented a car and drove to Plakias. A few kilometers before reaching our accommodation, we passed by this mountain road with a number of cars parked, must be a famous tourist spot, I thought to myself. However, I could not see anything but a dry, arid soil and mountains around.
Kourtaliotiko Gorge
The plan was to not have a plan. But deep inside me, I really wanted to go to lots of beautiful places around the area. We do not travel to this part of the world that often, you know. So when Kevin heard about this crystal waters along the gorge from our friends living in Plakias, I grabbed this chance to convince him.
One morning Kevin was helping out our friend building his chicken coop, while I went with his wife and looked after their toddler playing in the park in Rethymno. It was high noon when we got free, and left to check out the gorge.
Kourtaliotiko Gorge was about 30-minute descending hike from the main road. It was not difficult to find it, given the multiple cars parked along the road. The sun was painful, and I was second-guessing if it was worth it. The day before that, Kevin got sick due to the intense heat; I was worried about him and our other friend, Daniel who did not have a lot of choice when we dragged him along.
Just by looking at the steps and vicinity, it did not look like there's even a creek or a puddle, it was super dry. I was already calculating the intense ascent we were gonna do on the way back. But while walking down the steps, we were stunned at the amount of people coming up. Like, wow, it was really a famous place huh.
We were almost at the bottom and had started to hear running water, when we passed by this old stone chapel, looking so picturesque in the valley.
Not farther from the chapel, we could already see the green inviting turquoise pool of water. I wanted to jump in desperately.
However, we ended up on a bridge looking down the gorge and these awesome waterfalls instead. It was not possible to jump, meh.
There was no shade where we could shelter from the scorching sun so we hurried up and followed some other tourists going further down.
We were extremely elated when we finally reached the bottom and saw a place where we could splash ourselves with cool water. But there was one problem - the water was TOO cold, really cold, to our surprise, it was like freezing. Fortunately, we could find some shadows to stand under, while lining up to take photographs (lots of tourists were taking LOTS of pictures).
Some people, especially experienced hikers, could take the trail directly towards the coast, for about 2-3 hours. We were not fit to do that; our friend Daniel, was already gasping for breath. We headed back up, and drove towards one of the best scenic views we ever saw in this trip, towards the Preveli beach.
Preveli Beach
Preveli Beach is a stunning beach where the river along rare palm trees meets the Mediterranean sea. According to local legend (and wikipedia), the king of Ithaca, Odysseus, remained in the wider area of Lake Preveli after the end of the Trojan War on his return to Ithaca from Troy. I swear I never knew about these things until now, lol.
It was another downhill hike; approximately 20 minutes from the parking lot. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law took the boat from Plakias and met us there, which was a good decision, because the ascent on the back could get really exhausting. We were already beaten up from the gorge hike earlier, the day heat made it worse, but eventually made it down to Preveli beach around 4pm. The view from the top though, was priceless. The color of the blue Mediterranean sea mixing with the greenish river water, and the unique palm trees giving color to the lifeless dry mountain backdrop was just spectacular to see.
After meeting the others, we left our bags on a mat, and walked into the palm forest. The water was murky, due to algae and there was a mild smell, but a couple of people still walked along it. There was a monastery up ahead and a clear water pool before it. We were too tired to do anything else.
The kids 🤣, took comfort in making sand castles at a small lagoon afar from the other tourists. The crowd was too much, so we were happy at that small corner.
The hike up, as expected, was very painful that I was just silent all throughout. My body had not fully adapted to the time zone yet, as well as the heat. But we also did quite a lot that day. If we could do it again, I would allot one day on each place, also pack a lot of munchies and water.
Orrr just take the boat! 🙃