Agriomandra Beach and Minoan Farmhouse

Start

Park the car up the main road near the large church & Supermarket and walk back down to the main road. Turn left, cross over and follow the road down pass the zebra crossings

Turn

Turn right by the large sign with the legend Agriomandra and follow this road

keep right at sign

Keep to the right at the fork in the road and continue

Left then keep right

Go left and then keep to the right The road gets a little rougher here but is still easy to follow

Right at T junction

At T junction go right

go left

Keep to the left at the intersection

Stay on road left of the sign

At the sign keep left following the pathway

View

View along pathway

Head off pathway

Take off pathway by sign straight ahead across field until you pick up narrow dirt path

narrow pathway leading to gate and View of gorge ahead

Follow pathway towards small gorge

Gate

Pass through and close gate. No Pathway as such so clamber down fairly rough area on-wards heading down towards the beach

View of pathway

View of pathway

Cross, marking church

Pole in shape of cross marking the location of the church Agios Ioannis within a cave

View

Pathway down to beach

Agios Ioannis Cave Church

Just before you reach the beach you will see several small caves in the rocks. One of them is built with stone and is used as a church. It was built in the Byzantine period by a hermit and was dedicated to St. John the Theologian. This is still used occasionally for baptisms

Beach

Agriomandra beach. Facilities for BBQ and Large marble table and stone bench for sitting. Safe beach with clear water, visited by tourist boats in the summer

Hill to climb after beach stop

Looking back from where you came down to beach, the hill to the left needs to be ascended. No pathway as such but not too difficult to climb

View from top after climb up from beach

View looking out to sea. From here there is no defined pathway and you need to make your way towards a fence through rough low spiny gorse & loose rocks

Follow fence

Continue until you get to the fence then head upwards. Be careful of thin wire like this one at throat level strung to keep the fence straight. More wire is at foot level so be aware and cautious long this area

Keep by fence and go uphill

Heading towards the gate

Gate

The gate is marked with a long wood branch attached into the wire fence. Close after passing through. Typical Crete gate fastened by twisting wire.

View of terrain

Keep going no pathway as such head up at an angle towards the top

View of terrain

A few larger rocks to pass through

Minoan farm

Site of Minoan Farm

Sign giving information on the Minoan farm

Information on ruins Stayed for water break here and look around.

View of road to follow after ruins

Pass onto a decent pathway, follow until it ends and continue through same gorseland terrain again

Lunch break overlooking sea

Lunched here.

view

Cave down by tree that can be explored by torch.

Cave

Bat cave. If careful it can be explored. Please respect the environment, the ceilings are low and uneven Use of torch necessary. The cave does go much further but proper equipment, helmet, ropes proper clothing required. This cave houses Bats and as such bat droppings are widespread hence the air may contain a diamorphic fungus. Visiting caves without masks or other protection will increase the risk of respiratory infections specially histoplasmosis caused by the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum. This infection can occur in normal individuals. It is needless to say that people with immune deficiency are at high risk in visiting caves . One can visit caves with masks or other protection from dangers of inhalation of fungal spores which are grown on bat guano. Healthy and immune deficiency people are equally at risk if they do not take care to use masks. Histoplasmosis, also known as cave disease

Head back to pathway

Return back to the pathway and continue up to the junction

Turn left by junction

Turn left and stay on gravel lane taking in the views.

Continue along pathway

Follow pathway along route

view

Turn left by junction

When pathway intersects turn left and follow a short distance

View of the pathway that you are aiming to use

stay left and descend down the hill keeping to the left, looking for another fence

Gate

By keeping fairly high and towards the left you will come to a fence follow it to the gate

descend down near the fence

Keep the fence to your right and descend down until you hit a grassy area with a wall and follow this

Markers

Continue along and slightly down and you will soon hit a series of red markers showing you that you are on the correct track

Keep right and follow path all the way to the village

As you walk down the pathway there will be several intersections, follow towards the village

Pass a homestead

Pass through and by a homestead

At junction go left

Pass by Bee boxes and at junction keep to the left. Follow this pathway until the next junction

Turn right at junction

Turn right and follow pathway, keep going straight until you return to the car park

walk through village and turn right at junction where houses face you

walk through village and turn right at junction where houses face you

Short distance to main road and car park

Up to main road, cross over to where you parked the car