Greece for a holiday in the spring is chosen by those tourists who are tired of the endless cold winter and miss the warm, and sometimes the burning sun and the already warmed sea. Finding a resort suitable for these conditions in Greece is not difficult. To do this, you need to go to the warmest resort in Greece, to the southernmost point of Europe - to the small island of Gavdos, located in the Levantine Sea, 35 km south of the most popular island of Crete.
How to get to the warmest resort in Greece?
The island of Gavdos, which is home to only about one and a half hundred people, turns into a very lively resort during the high season - 3,500 tourists come here. They offer hotels and tent camps. Settlements on an island with an area of 27 sq. only four km: the villages of Xenaki, Vatsianu and Abelo and the capital of the island - the town of Kastri.
The warmest resort in Greece - the island of Gavdos - is accessible only to the most determined tourists, because the road here turns into a real adventure. Usually, not all travelers agree on such difficulties. How to get to Gavdos?
- Airplanes do not fly to this island. The nearest airport is located on the neighboring island of Crete, where regular and charter flights deliver tourists from Moscow and other major cities of Russia. Thus, travelers arrive in the city of Chania;
- from Chania, take a daily shuttle bus to the small southern town of Chora Sfakion, where the ferry pier is located. By the way, there is a similar port in another Cretan settlement - Paleochora;
- in Chora Sfakion or Paleochora, you should change to the Anendyk ferry, which delivers travelers to the island of Gavdos in three hours.
It would seem that nothing complicated: plane, bus, ferry - and here it is, a long-awaited vacation. However, there are pitfalls here. Ferry timetables are constantly changing. Sometimes ships leave for the blessed island only once a week. In high season, they run three times every 7 days.
An island for lovers of antiquities
If you are not afraid of such difficulties, then welcome to one of the most pleasant and secluded corners of Greece. The locals are absolutely sure that the nymph Calypso once lived on their island, who once sheltered Odysseus.
What to do in Gavdos? Look for the "Palace of Calypso", examine the tombs of the Minoan era, walk thoughtfully through the remains of an ancient Roman village, see the ruins of an ancient aqueduct and one of the furnaces in which local forests were burned during the Roman era.
One of the attractions of the warmest resort in Greece is the lighthouse, erected at the end of the 19th century and reconstructed after the bombing in 1942. Currently, a cafe is open in it. Also worth seeing are the ruins of a Byzantine village in the area of Agios Yanis and an ethnographic museum in the village of Vatsianu.
Treasures of Gavdos - beaches
The beaches of Gavdos, and this is exactly what many tourists come here for, do not have a developed infrastructure. There are no changing rooms, sun loungers, but all the beaches are free and not controlled by anyone.
The most popular local beach on the Discovery Channel lists is Agios Yanis beach with fine golden sand. In some parts of the beach, you can see the unique pink sand formed from the crumbling shells of mollusks. Agios Yanis beach is located next to the grove, which was planted by the efforts of local residents. Here, mostly nudists sunbathe.
A little further is Sarakiniko beach, which is often called the most picturesque European beach. From the rocky hills covered with low bushes and interspersed with dunes, which can be climbed from the beach, a magnificent panorama of the endless surface of the sea and the coastline opens. It was worth coming here for this view!
