This post is about a beach.
This post is about a plant.
This post is about enjoying nature.
Hard to decide today :)
This post is about all the above, but most of all it is about beauty!
For those that don't know it, I am living on the east side of Crete, the biggest and most fascinating of the Greek islands :)
And I just came back from a short trip to my favorite beach. It was just for an overnight and only one hour and a half drive from the place I live. But it was so exhilarating and fulfilling as if I had taken a long vacation to a distant exotic destination!
Crete attracts millions of visitors every year. But most of them are packed to the west or the center of the island and very few to the east. The small curvy roads and the lack of big hotels and tourist facilities discourages the vast majority that crosses the island, from reaching to the east coast. It is a part of Crete almost unspoiled (who knows for how long) with great beauty and amazing scenery!
On this peaceful part of the island, Xerokampos is the most remote coastal village. "The Far East of Crete" as I like to call it and "krinakia" (meaning lilies in Greek) is my favorite beach. Apart from the fact that it is a gorgeous sandy beach it is also blessed with an amazing plant! Sea daffodil flourishes every fall and when it does I make sure not to miss it!
This year I was there a little bit late, at the ending of the flourishing period but it didn't mattered at all. The beauty of the flowers, the overwhelming cent during the night and the wonder itself of watching all this growing on the dry sand, it was all there!
Pancratium maritimum (that's its scientific name) is practically a flower bulb that grows on beaches and sand dunes around the Mediterranean sea and a few more parts of the world. Extremely tolerant to hot and arid climates, sand lily (one more name for the same plant) has survived for thousands of years until the modern concept of tourism stared to invade to its habitat with heavy machinery and all sort of constructions on the sand. Nowadays it is in danger of extinction and can only be found in remote and unspoiled coastlines.
"Krinakia" beach is one of the few frontiers where you can enjoy the sea, the sun and the natural scenery without any distractions. So if you ever come to this beach, or any other place that sand lilies grow, please be very careful and respectful towards this nature's miracle. Please don't cut it, don't step on it and most definitely don't uproot it! Just enjoy it and be grateful that they are still there!
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All the pictures and the words are mine.
Thank you for reading and if you want to know more about me you can check out my introduction post.
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