The weather will be curious at this season and change every day. Today we have a bright sunshine. The breakfast buffet is fine too. As an inquiring visitor of Plakias at first you will usually choose the path up the hill towards a mountain village named Myrthios.

Yellow Poppies near Myrthios

Myrthios

Myrthios

Myrthios Postoffice

Technical Monument

"Botanical Garden" Plakias

Airy Path

I have heard of a small tunnel resp. adit nearby. The path soon is a little bit airy and at the right there is a vertical drop of about 10 m. So I know, Heidi will never come here. Some people approach, the first is a lady and I ask in German what's ahead. But she says "I am from England". OK, I say "Where does this path lead to?" and hope this is correct shool-English. "Oh, there is a hole in the cliff, but no one knows, you need a light" she now states. I go on at this airy path and now admire the plants and flowers around. Orchids (orchis maculata) and lime-green bushes like balls but take care of their prickers. You will forget any botanical garden. Then I find the "hole in the cliff". At the right side the rocks fall down to the sea, at the left side is a steep gravel slope.

Just a view inside the tunnel, but soon it gets pitch dark. May be there is a hole at the ground or something like that. I better go out and proudly return to my wife with her suntan cream. And I have a big hole in my sandals due to the sharp edges of the rock. During the ongoing afternoon the wind gets stronger and we must quit our swim season. I success to lure my wife to a rocky path towards an olive grove. As wanderers approach again the following dialogue comes up: "Wo führt dieser Weg hin?" "Oh sorry, what do you mean?" "Where does this path lead to?" "Oh, there is the Hapimag Hotel five minutes from here". Hapimag in English sounds in German like Häppimäck.

Damnoni Bay

With the hole in my sandals I must clench my teeth to overcome the five minutes and we reach the Damnoni Bay, which is said to have been very idyllic in former times. Since they have built the Hapimag site it has turned to a busy touristic place. We return on a tarmack road to Plakias. We now look for some information brochures. There is an English author named Lance Chilton who has written some guides of the region. For these are the only detailled local informations these brochures are a bestseller. At the window of the shop there is a sign, that the Hapimag-Organisation sells bootlegs of these booklets. So let us wait for our revenge at Hapimag.

Tuesday: A long Walk

As it is said before the weather changes each day, now we have a cloudy sky. We start for a walk along the coastal road to the western end of the Plakias Bay. There is the small mouth of a creek and the place is named Souda Bay. We see nice flowers again and have an easy walk. Once we see a group of persons who have assembled at a terrace. A musician tries to produce some Greek sounds on a guitar. And eventually the party comes in motion, some clap their hands and try to form a circle. Everything like slow motion. A van from Hamburg stands at the parking site. We argue about this matter, may be this is a group for meditation or self-awareness. Some distance later we observe another group, they are full in motion already and dance around in a circle.

Cliffs

Souda Bay

Another walker-couple comes up. I just make a photo of some wild cliffs at the sea. The other wandering husband thinks to do the same. We reach the Souda beach with only one bathing guest. At the end of the beach there is the mouth of the creek under a rock wall. And there are some of the rare palm trees. We have a chat with the other couple, where we live, and how nice it is etc. Meanwhile I wade across the creek and start to climb up a rocky path. Soon i can wave from above to the resting fellows. The path leads to the west at the slope but I must return after some time.

Sheep near Sellia

For the way back we try to trust in our new walker's map. There must be an upper path parallel to the coast. And this path leads upwards for a longer time. Suddenly an excited flock of sheep comes up, Heidi just in the middle of it. If those would be cows ore moreover bulls I think she would have gotten a heart attack. But there is a shepherd and some clever dogs who keep everything ok. After the flock of sheep has passed one must be careful where to put the steps.

Sellia

Sellia

At once the mountain village Sellia is in front of us. We had planne to visit this place later - but now we are there and admire the picturesque scene. Is there any mountain village in Greece that is not picturesque? We have rest at an outlook platform at a monument of the war, there is a list of the victims of all the rebellions, revolutions and wars since 1862. So this list is quite longish. Soon we meet our wandering couple again who are quite enthusiastic of our adventoures. They want to continue to Myrthios where we have been yesterday.

We stay to the main road which is a real panorama route. So many car-renters stop for a photo across the crash barrier. Sometimes the crash barrier is misseng and the Heidi prefers to walk in the middle of the street to prevent that she flies out of the curve.  In the brochure "7 More - And More Challenging - Walks in the Plakias Area" we have found a nice term for this obsession: "vertigo suffering". Meanwhile we have reached the Kotsifos Gorge. There is an old donkey path back to Myrthios but this looks rather insecure. The weather dares to turn bad so we go on on the road. There is a lot of rubbish at the slopes and even a collection of junk cars.

Finally we cal leave the road at a small chapel and find our way along a water channel of stone. This channel leads along a contour line all around the Bay of Plakias. As the sky turns to get yellow and stron wind blasts come we are glad to reach our home in time. From our balcony we observe the following spectacle. We have the Scirocco, a wind from the Shara desert, which transports masses of yellow dust from the far Africa. Some accompanying raindrops and soon all the vehicles outside look like after a crossroad tour. At the sea high waves splash over the beach.

But the weather is capricious, in the evening the sun shines again. And I must pay a compliment to my wife that she has absolved this long march without grumbling.

Wednesday: Some Mills and Light at the End of the Tunnel

The sky is cloudy and the sea still rough. No time for the beach. So we start for a visit of the ruins of two old mills at the river Kotsifos. We pass olive groves and a hut with a wife dozing in the sun. We argue that this is a "Aussteigerin" (Aussteiger are people who quit their normal life for an alternative existence, e.g. Hippies). Soon we reach the first mill. This is the rest of a high wall. On the top of the wall there once the waters were lead to the shaft, where a millstone was driven by the falling waters. This kind of mill is called "Schlotmühle" and stems from the mesopotamian era. This was introduced to Crete about 1500 post Christum natum. This is to be read in the brochure of Lance Chilton.

Mill	Mill
Chapel	Inside the Chapel

This is a holly place, you are kindly requested to respect it!!!
Do not sleep inside!!!

This was in fact not our intention. The entrance is easy to open and inside are some naked rocks with pictures of icons out of calendar brochures. A couple of coins are untouched. There is somewhat like an altar for any celebrations. We close the door again and go back.

Meanwhile the sky has become bright and we march to our beachplace. Among some bushes and dry grass we find a reasonable shelter from the wind. A bath in the sea is impossible. So soon I say farewell for the next exploration of the upper terrain. At the entrance of the tunnel there are some families with children this time. They ask for a light or match but I have none myself.  But one can be more courageous if some more people are at hand. "Let us see if he comes back" the people say. I fumble in the dark, hands stretched out ahead and after some time the eyes get used to the dark. And suddenly I recognize some light after a bend. At once i return and tell the kids: "If someone is courageous enough can follow me..." but they all have already disappeared in the dark of the tunnel. Their fathers are just fast enough to prevent, that someone falls down the cliff at the end of the tunnel.

At the End of the Tunnel

There exists another brochure of our favourite author Lance Chilton about the flora of the region. This seems to be something for professional botanists. But it is said, that primarily at the Kotsifos gorge there are plants which exist only at Crete.

While the wind never stops we recognize that we are the last who shiver at the beach. So let us go home.