Lighthouse Walk Vrouchas
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 7.6 mi
- Elevation gain
- 1,526 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Difficult
- Elevation loss
- 1,526 ft
- Max elevation
- 1,114 ft
- TrailRank
-
68
5
- Min elevation
- 64 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Moving time
- 3 hours 7 minutes
- Time
- 4 hours 8 minutes
- Coordinates
- 2146
- Uploaded
- February 21, 2020
- Recorded
- February 2020
near Vrouchás, Crete (Greece)
Viewed 583 times, downloaded 17 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
Several walkers on this route opted out of this part.
The walk also has a long and tiring uphill gradient from the shoreline back up to the start that will tax those not so fit.
Not suitable for young children or the infirm.
Waypoints
Car park
990 ft
Start
After driving past the church and taking the road immediately after it, keep right and park by the walled circular well. Here start the walk going right keeping on the trail between the walls
Photo
970 ft
Trail
Trail gets a little rougher, but you can see ahead the concrete roadway that you are heading to join
Intersection
1,074 ft
Windmill farm
At junction keep right following the windmill farm towards the headland
Religious site
932 ft
Church of St John (Agios Ioannis)
Off the path to the church. The small whitewashed church Outdoor seating around the walls for a water break
Photo
915 ft
By church trail continues
Keep to the right of the church and head towards the rock and shingles just past it
Waypoint
917 ft
Sign post signals the walk
Past the sign post and down to the rough road. a little way on the road turn off onto the terrain to follow the pathway. It is well signposted with posts, painted rocks and arrows. Those that don't want to go off trail can follow the roadway all the way down. Easier but a lot longer.
Panorama
Photo
235 ft
Continue off track following markers
Continue off track following markers Heading towards the shoreline
Photo
147 ft
From here the trail narrows
The trail follows the shore line and gets a little narrower
Summit
Ruins
159 ft
Water Break by Light house
The lighthouse of Cape Agios Ioannis or Aforesmenos as it is better known The rugged landscape is typical of Crete with bare mountains, rugged coastlines and too much wind! At Cape Aforesmenos furious winds blow most of the time and it’s strange name (meaning expelled from Church) comes from a relevant reason. According to the legend, after Caiaphas crucified Jesus he started his journey to Rome in order to meet with Caesar. However, during the journey he died of a disease. Because he was a ruler, he should be buried properly. When his sailors approached Crete they tried to reach the little bay of Chomatistra, but the flat sea surface turned to huge waves. Nevertheless, the sailors managed to get out to the coast and buried Caiaphas. Thus, Cape Aforesmenos was named like this denoting that the crucifier of Christ was buried there and the sea did not calm down by then. The lighthouse of Agios Ioannis Cape was built in 1864 by the French Company of Lighthouses at the site of a pre-existing tower. It joined the Greek lighthouses’ network in 1912 when Crete became part of Greece A large part of it has collapsed, while the rest of the building is about to collapse if the state does not take actions immediately. The two modern lights, now obsolete are mounted on the rock face to the left of the original Lighthouse and are slowly disintegrating, the copper used to house the lights have either been stolen or fallen into the sea. More likely stolen Next to the lighthouse, there is a carved cave which was used by the Germans as a viewpoint. At the top of the hill, where the lighthouse is built, you will see the ruins of the original Venetian lighthouse which is shown in old Venetian maps dating 1590 The ruins were later integrated into the network of Cretan viewpoints / lighthouses
Waypoint
158 ft
Turn right and follow path
The path is fairly well trod and can be distinguished between the rough landscape Marker is red dot on a stone at ground level
Photo
194 ft
Trail goes down here
The trail is a little tricky with loose rocks as you go down a few metres
Waypoint
183 ft
Back onto solid roadway
From here onward until the last section it is solid concrete roadway
Intersection
79 ft
Turn left and uphill
Although a good road it is a slow taxing walk up to the village
Intersection
654 ft
Left by sign between buildings
Head left and down passing outdoor pool to your left and stay on rough track
Photo
641 ft
Four Circular wells
Path leads through two small and two large circular stone wells. Fish can be seen swimming in the larger ones.
Photo
673 ft
Stay straight on concrete pathway
Keep going straight ahead after the Circular wells up the concrete pathway
Photo
927 ft
Photo of the trail you are following
Easy to follow pathway A bit of a grind to get up to the top of this incline
Intersection
955 ft
Last turn before car park
Turn right by post and a few meters ahead you will be back to the start.
Comments (1)
You can add a comment or review this trail
I have followed this trail verified View more
Information
Easy to follow
Scenery
Difficult
Definitely a favourite even though I got soaked 😝