Discovering Crete, Part 15 - A backcountry road trip

in photography •  6 years ago 

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Greetings Steemians!

Usually I like to explore new places by walking or hiking. On foot I can devote all my attention to the surroundings and it leaves enough time to let new impressions sink in.

But when time is limited and I still want to get a sense for a certain region, I sometimes just get in the car and drive off. With my camera ready on the co-driver seat I stop at the roadside whenever I see something worth capturing.

Towards the end of my stay on Crete I decided to undertake such a road trip to explore a bit the backcountry between Mátala and the mountains of the Psiloritis massif. I had no specific destination but rather a vague direction. Maybe I could spot something worth a second visit for further exploration on foot.

I started close to Kalamaki with the foot hills of the Psiloritis already in view:

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Can you spot the dark shadow at the right of the mountain flank, just above the vegetation line? This is in fact the entry of a large cave, the Spílio Kamaraikó. Minoan artefacts were found in it. I realized this just after my trip by checking pictures in the web. The cave can be reached in a three-hour hike starting in Kamáres. Next time maybe.

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A marvelous view back on the plains of Messara opens up.

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A nice turning point. It's time to think about dinner :).

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After a short pit stop in my holiday home, I arrive in nightly Pitsidia.

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Mike's Taverna is the place to go for the hungry.

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Grilled squid. Plain, simple and absolutely delicious! The perfect ending for today's road trip.

Thanks for watching and have a great day on Steemit!

Shaka


All photos were recorded by myself with an Canon EOS 7D / Tamron 18-270 mm in Mai 2018. All rights reserved.


Discovering Crete - All previous posts:

Part 1, Agiofárango I Part 2, Agiofárango II
Part 3, Monastery Odigítrias I Part 4, Monastery Odigítrias II
Part 5, Phaistos I Part 6, Phaistos II
Part 7, Phaistos III Part 8, Mátala I
Part 9, Mátala II Part 10, Kamilari
Part 11, Agía Galíni I Part 12, Agía Galíni II
Part 13, Zarós Part 14, Island glow
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Oh man those landscape shots are incredible! I heard Crete is one of the most beautiful islands in the Mediterranean. As for Greek islands, I have been only to Zakynthos so far and I loved it. But I think Crete is more diverse and thus even more attractive. Thanks for this great travel series! :)

Thank you!

Ahhh! I love the views. I agree, traveling by foot is always better. I feel like, I'm able to soak in more when I'm walking. Car is always convenient when short on time! :)

This is natural place and truly this composite pictures reflects beautiful creations and in my opinion these natural creations always reflects that story telling essence and also these places holds the unique essence and that is nature face all aspects of life like an fighter.

And whenever i see monuments or statues then it's reflects great stories for sure and these type of monuments and statues always great to explore because these statues can relate with the places and we can also connect with stories effectively.

And that late evening time is reflecting so beautiful with beautiful colour essence in the sky. And in my opinion whenever we watch something great colourful essence in the sky then for sure that will give awesome essence.

And that plate is reflecting as holding some delicious and natural stuff and these kind of beautiful and natural foodie stuff can give that pleasant essence to our tummy.

Wishing you an great day and stay blessed. 🙂

as usualy lovely pics!
did you say grilled squid!!!
that's delicious!

It absolutely is :)

Psiloritis itself looks like it would be a good challenge. Have you thought about climbing it? The views at the top would have to be amazing.

Btw I assume this is the same peak as here

Hi Terry,

The double peak mountain with the cave is called Marvi and is an outlier south of the Psiloritis. It is possible to climb the Psilioritis (or Mount Ida) but not from the south via the Marvi. At least the hiking path ends at the cave.

The Psiloritis can be climbed from either the east or west flank. The view must indeed be fantastic. It would have been an option for me but I will have another dedicated hiking holiday later this summer and so I thought to take it a bit easier during my Crete trip.

Very impressive pictures. I wakes up my fernweh ! :)

These rugged mountains remind me the Himalayan mountains. Everything seems similar, except the seashore. Whole Himalayan region is not rocky. Some places are rocky there but those rocks are dark, rugged and have sharp edges.
@shaka your photographs and narrative encourage me to go on world tour but unfortunately my pocket don't allow me. Perhaps, one day I'll be able to make my dream a reality.

A nice place without a doubt something different I think it would be something interesting to do that 3 hour walk to the cave I also like to walk I think it is much more enjoyable but there are places that are too big to walk @shaka

Mmmmh der Salatteller sieht mega fein lecker aus. Nur deswegen alleine lohnt sich vermutlich schon ein Ausflug dorthin, oder?

Ist ein echter Geheimtipp, wenn man dort ist, muss man mal hingehen. Alles super lecker dort.

ich kenne die griechische Küche von meinem Aufenthalt an Olympia 2004. Das Essen ist mir jetzt noch in Erinnerung.

Was für tolle Bilder <3
Mir gefällt ja besonders die Ziege :D

Greetings shaka, in reality to follow you is to live virtually your different adventures, of which I have learned a lot from what for me was something far from knowing firsthand about you. That picture of the island's glow is too beautiful, as you reread your publication I return to admire such beautiful places, culture, architecture and gastronomy of Crete greetings @shaka

Thank you!

Unglaublich, diese Form des Foto Albums.
Mal wieder stimmungsvolle Bilder die hier zu sehen sind.

Shaka how are you? You have a lot to show me in each installment and that fascinates me because it keeps me aware that it will bring shaka in the next part.

I love the images you see rocky landscapes and with a lot of sun but at the same time beautiful, if you had gone on foot you might not have reached some places in the distance but it was worth driving because you captured many beautiful landscapes and even a histoty of a cave in particular

Your dinner looks simply delicious!

This scenario is only a direct contact with nature, the good weather and the strong sun enveloping everything with its rays. You can barely notice the small shadow on the top right, I wonder if that cave will be very deep or if it has been visited regularly in recent years.

Mike's taverna looks like a place where you can relax in its entirety and enjoy a good meal, as well as having a nice time with the other people there! Fantastic.

The cave can be visited indeed but the ascension is quite burdensome. Therefore it won't get crowded up there. The entry of the cave is about 40m broad and the first chamber is around 100m deep.

Backcountry road trip, a very awesome and i enjoyed a lot. All of all your photographs is extraordinary.
A marvelous view back on the plains of Messara was the best that you took.
I noticed your all part ofdiscovering create and believe me i enjoyed so much.
Thank u

Great photos of a great landscape. As I wrote in a few posts before, those pictures unleash my wanderlust and make me want to go there too.
But the picture with the grilled squid... Damn, 12 o'clock in Germany and I want grilled squid for lunch :-D

In Mykonos we also had grilled squid sometimes - so delicious! But the highlight was definitely a mixed fish/seafood plate we got on the last evening (celebrating into my birthday) - Guess I will show it in the next part about Mykonos! :)

I love seafood in all variations. Looking forward seeing the plate you got. :D

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Hello brother @shaka.

This look a nice potrait and that interesting.


May ask you?
How about your opinion, if I'm consist to share my experience in steemit platform.

Do you support it? like the past, when I'm joining the Meet up agenda in Indonesia.

this is my 1st time to see your post. your photography really awesome.....

Surely to get to that cave is an interesting journey, I like to walk I think I enjoy more on the way but sometimes it is important to walk in a car that is good too everything has its good and bad side but this is a very nice place

Your simple dinner maybe yes but that looks very tasty roasted calamari

Outstanding to check this out beautiful part nice to discover this beautiful place :)

Very beautiful pictures, Crete is a magnificent destination to travel,

Beautiful pictures mate. Crete is beautiful.
Spare some food for me, I'm so hungry. The food looks delicious

Stunning .. brilliant, super, great.
Travel is a lively col.lege, suitable for you
Well performed on the images .. for extra creativity

Looks very nice and a beautiful place to be in. Nature is great and we feel always peaceful when we walk in such places.

How thrilling to hike the countryside of beautiful Crete!