A trip outside Paleochora!

Well, this is a strange sensation.

Today, we took a spin in the van, for leisure purposes! It is finally permissible to travel within your prefecture for non-essential reasons. This is the first time we can do this since lockdown began on 7th November last. Our prefecture is Chania, so essentially that means the western quarter of Crete. Plenty of scope! So we went all of 6km west (lol) and discovered the village of Κουντουρά / Kountoura, which we have been looking over towards for months.

Kountoura is a spread out little village, mainly concerned with vegetable growing, primarily tomatoes, and primarily for export. There are fields and fields of polytunnels/extended greenhouses which give the impression, from a distance, of swathes of land covered in white sheeting. Lorries loaded with tomatoes leave Kountoura at frequent intervals during the week, transporting their loads to distributors all over Europe. So, if you see tomatoes in the supermarket labelled from Greece, this could be where they were grown.

We stopped at the bakery in Kountoura for some cakes and drinks – it was Easter, after all – and we then headed to find a nice, novel swimming spot.

Caitríona: This kind of thing was what I was really hoping for with vanlife: you spot a gorgeous little cove as you’re driving along, you find a suitable place to park, and you grab the togs and towel for an impromptu swim. Bliss!

We were not disappointed when we went to investigate. After parking up outside one of the distribution companies on the outskirts of the village, we popped over the road to the sea. Crystal clear seas, a wide open strand, and hot, hot sand.

After our swim, we piled back into the van and returned to Paleochora, marveling at how different our village looked when viewed from this novel angle.