Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Ì
Rembetiko
T
28230 51510.
Home-cooked
traditional dishes including plenty of vegetarian options
such as rice-stuffed tomatoes and peppers (€5) are served
on a pleasant garden terrace (halfway up the main street).
April-Oct daily lunch & dinner.
SOÚYIA
Omikron
On the seafront
T
28230 51492.
This French-
run café and taverna has a more northern European flavour
and offers some vegetarian choices. Snacks, salads, curry
and pepper steak, among other offerings, are usually on
the menu.
April-Oct daily breakfast, lunch & dinner.
NIGHTLIFE
PALEÓHORA
Nostos
Pebble Beach, by the tourist o
ce
T
697 48 93
355.
Open as a café and bar throughout the day, Nostos is
also the liveliest late-night joint in town, with a chilled club
atmosphere.
May-Oct daily 10am-late, Nov-March
weekends and bank holidays 10am-late.
Paleohora Club
North end of Pebble Beach close to
the campsite.
The one real dance place, far enough from
town to be able to make some noise, though still fairly
restrained and mainstream.
June-Sept daily 11pm-6am.
Kastélli and the far west
Apart from being Crete's most westerly town, and the end of the main coastal
highway,
KASTÉLLI
(Kíssamos, or Kastélli Kissámou, as it's variously known) has
little obvious appeal. It's a busy small town and port with a long seafront and a
rocky central
beach
(there's also a small sandy beach to the west). The very
ordinariness of Kastélli, however, can be attractive: life goes on pretty much
regardless of outsiders, and there's every facility you might need. The town was
important in antiquity, when the Greco-Roman city-state of
Kísamos
was a major
regional power.
To the west of Kastélli lies some of Crete's loneliest and, for many visitors, finest
coastline. On the far western tip,
Falásarna
has beautiful beaches and ancient ruins,
while
Elafonísi's
“pink” beaches and lagoon lie in the southwest corner; the coastal road
connecting them has little development along the way, just a couple of villages, rocky
coves and patches of sand.
7
The archeological museum
Platía Tzanakáki • Tues-Sun 8.30am-3pm • €3 •
T
28220 83308
Kastélli's superb
archeological museum
houses stunning Roman-era
mosaics
on the
upper floor; mosaic production was a local speciality, and many more are being
excavated around town. Other exhibits include prehistoric and Minoan relics from
excavations in the town and from nearby Ancient Polyrínia.
Falásarna
The ruins of an ancient city and port are ignored by most visitors to
FALÁSARNA
in
favour of some of the best beaches on Crete, wide and sandy with clean water, though
far from undiscovered. There's a handful of
tavernas
and an increasing number of
rooms
for rent, and plenty of people
camp
out here too. Although the beach can
occasionally be afflicted by washed-up tar and discarded rubbish, this doesn't detract
from the overall beauty of the place. Crowds of locals on summer weekends can always
be escaped if you're prepared to walk, and the beaches are worth it.
Sfinári and Kámbos
Further south, the western coastline is far less discovered.
SFINÁRI
is a sleepy village
with a number of rooms to rent on the road down to a quiet pebble beach, sandy in
patches. At the bottom is a cluster of tavernas which offer free sunloungers to
customers.
KÁMBOS
is similar to Sfinári, but even less visited. Its stony beach is a good
hour's walk down a well-marked gorge path - a branch of the E4 - starting from
the village square. Alternatively there's a steep asphalted track, which is driveable.
