Crete Travel Guide

For this route, we head out of Rethymno the direction of Herakleio. When we reach the village of Perivolia, we bear right for Amari.

The main road winds up into the mountains, through Prases (a charming village with many Venetian houses), Potami with its fertile fields, Apostoli and Ayia Foteini.

From here, a turning to the left will take us to Thronos on the hill called Throniani Kefala, which has a superb view of Psiloritis Mountain.

If we go strait on at Ayia Foteini, we will come to the Asomaton Monastery, which since 1927 has functioned as a School of Farming, and to Amari, a little upland village which is the ‘capital’ of the Amari sub prefecture

In order to continue our route, we return to the main road at the Asomaton Monastery and head south, in the direction of the pretty port of Ayia Galini on the safe Bay of Messara, looking out to the Libyan Sea.

In the space of just a few years, Ayia Galini has changed from being a simple fishing village into a bustling resort. Along the coast to the west of the village are caves which can be visited only by boat.

Near Ayia Galini we can visit Tymbaki, in the midst of a fertile farming area, the settlement of Kokkinos Pyrgos (‘red tower’: there is a medieval structure which answers this description), and Kalyviani Monastery.

To return to Rethymno we take the road through Spili, chief town of the Ayios Vasileios sub prefecture. This very attractive village stands on an outcrop on the south-western slopes of Kedros Mountain.

The setting is verdant, with numerous streams, and the courtyards of the houses are full of flowers. The little square with its 25 fountains were, where cool water pours from sculpted lion’s heads, will revive and relax us shortly before the return route ends and we reach Rethymno.