Our final excursion before returning to the UK was to the Akrotiri peninsula located to the east of Chania. It is quite barren and its northern extent is lined by steep hills. We stopped at the beach at Kalathas which had a strange orange/brown sediment that was flowing into the bay creating a marked contrast the the normally blue water, I am not sure if it was pollution or something less menacing.
Our second stop was the beach at Stavros. which consisted of a beautiful, sheltered bay (where we snorkelled) with a series of rock pools with all sorts of wildlife from fish and urchins to octopus.
Our final stop was the to check out the monastery at Moni Gouverneto. As we arrived a little late in the evening we didn’t have time to get all the way down to the ruins of Moni Katholiko, but we did manage to see the Bear Cave which has a massive stalagmite in the middle resembling the shape of a bear. The main monastery at Moni Gouverneto was quite understated from the outside, but a place of amazing calm and beautifully-kept gardens, temple and courtyard on the inside.
All in all our trip to Greece was amazing and I would definitely consider going back in the future, although I would try to avoid the high season and the places that attract the typical beer-swilling, foul-mouthed and ill-behaved, drunken English tourists.
