Sunflower Landscapes of Eastern Crete: A Countryside Guide

Mere mention of Crete conjures up all sorts of shimmering images, and we hope that this book — covering the eastern end of the island — will give you the key to some of Crete’s mystery and majesty.

The landscapes will hold you spellbound. The surrounding sea — all its vivid shades of blue sparkling in the sun — is part of the scenery too; impossible to separate from the landscape, it’s always just in sight, or
round the next corner, or disappearing into the skyline.

Woven into the countryside, the people of Crete are yet another part of the landscape. Just a short distance away from all the hubbub and commercialism that a coastline so often creates, a timeless way of life still goes on. Pastoral labours, such as threshing and winnowing, are still carried on without the help of machines. Water is still drawn up from wells.

Whether you walk, drive or picnic in Eastern Crete, the mountains will be your constant companions, changing colour and mood from dawn to dusk, as you move through them, round them and over them. You cannot fail
to feel their dramatic attraction. The stunning colours and heady scent of flowers and herbs, tucked into rough ground or splashed across a hillside, the warm-sounding buzz of hovering bees, and the massed band of a thousand cicadas will all leave a lasting impression — the ’special effects’ of the total scene.

You may share this rural bliss only with a solitary shepherd, his flocks and dogs, as you walk the hillsides of Eastern Crete. Greeks, on the whole, don’t walk, unless they have to for their day’s labour, so be prepared for
incredulous looks from the townspeople and faint smiles from the villagers — although over the years they have become accustomed to seeing people passing through clasping their guidebook and, knowingly, will point the way from their cafeneion seats or smallholdings!

PLEASE NOTE: This new ebook is NOT a new edition of Sunflower's walking and touring guide. The paperback version of the book had long been out of print, but numerous requests to make it available again have resulted in Sunflower preparing this digital version for use on Kindles, iPads and other tablet devices using the .mobi format. However, it has been enhanced by the addition of many new photographs, and the creation of an individual large-scale map for every walk or hike plus comprehensive touring maps. In total the book contains 25 maps (all in full colour) and over 60 colour photographs.
A useful feature of the book is that although it concentrates on car tours and walks in the eastern half of the island, one famous walk in western Crete is also included. This is the Samaria Gorge walk. Excursions enabling visitors staying in any part of Crete, (including resorts such as Agios Nikolaos and Sitia) to travel to the gorge and undertake the walk are readily available - they involve two lengthy coach journeys and an hour-long sea trip! The book illustrates the excursion with a map, a description of the route and numerous photographs.

If you are visiting Crete, enhance your visit by carrying this book!

Jonnie Godfrey worked on Crete for several years and, as a travel PR on her return to England, has taken many press groups to the island. Elizabeth Karslake, a photographer, joined Jonnie to undertake the huge job of mapping out, photographing and describing tours and walks over the whole island; together they produced the first walking guides for Crete.