The first and the last thing you'll see when you visit Crete by ferry are the mountains. Taller or shorter, depending on the port you are, it doesn't really matter. They are all part of the island's identity, part of its soul. They are mountains that can't be easily forgotten even if you see them just once and myself, I have seen them way more times!
And every single time I look at them with the same awe that I had the first time, as a child. This time I was leaving them behind and it was a lovely day to have a mini cruise!
Going from Crete to the mainland from the port of Kissamos, on the west side of the island, is not the most popular choice but it is my favourite. The ferry stops in two more islands on its way before it dock to the scenic port of Gythio. A whole day with one beautiful scenery after another, in the middle of the Mediterranean sea can be described as a cruise, can't it?
Even if it is a mini one :)
The first stop was at the tiny island of Antikythera, mostly known from the Antikythera mechanism (kind of the first mechanical computer, made by ancient Greeks) that was found close to the island. We have spend a few days on this special place with @traisto and it was great but the sad truth is that it is almost deserted. There are around 40 people registered as residents of the island but in the winter there should be less than 10 actually staying there.
A tricky place to live.
Unfortunately there are no governmental plans to avoid the abandonment of small islands and Greece has a lot of them. A few years ago there was all over the news (local and foreign) that the church will pay a monthly allowance of 500 euro to families, with at least three children, that want to live on the island, which of course are not enough even for a single person but still, it would have been a positive initiative. It turned out that it was just fake news...
(Is that what you have read @nanixxx?)
The next stop was at the island of Kythera, a magical place that we have spend some wonderful vacations too. It is so nice that we have even considered it as a possible alternative to move to!
The port lies on the east side of the island, away from any village but you can immediately grasp the serenity of the scenery. We spend some time there watching cars and trucks coming in and out of the ferry, while the sea was expecting us for the last part of our trip.
Considering that it was the 11th of December we were very lucky to have such good weather that allowed us to spend all the trip outdoors, on the upper deck. And once in a while stretch our legs and take one more picture :)
In the early afternoon we arrived at Gythio and the mainland. It was just a couple of hours driving before we reach home but not before we have a proper meal and walk a bit on solid ground :)
This is my entry for the #monomad challenge and can also be considered as a bonus track to the last four posts of 2024, were I described the trip that @traisto and myself did to harvest our olive groves.
If you missed those posts you can follow the links below:
All the pictures and the words are mine.
Thank you for reading and if you want to know more about me you can check out my introduction post.
Commenting, upvoting and rebloging are highly appreciated!
No, I didn't read that... 😂... but if there are so few people living there, I can move. I wouldn't mind. Lol.
I saw traisto and your dog in the previous post, I forgot to tell you ;)
You guys will never be able to hide from me even if you go live in Kythera! 😁
Hahaha nice! I like putting in my posts details like that, to see who will notice them :)