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Prefecture: Rethymno
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Plakias
The Beach in Plakias is one long bay in south Rethimno Prefecture. In front of the village, it has a lot of pebbles, and is certainly not at it’s best. However, if you walk east you can follow the road right along the bay.
The beach gets better as you walk along, and there is a lot more sand. At the far end, the cliffs provide a nice area for snorkelling too.
The beach is rarely crowded, and you can always find a fairly quiet spot somewhere. There are several showers along the way, which is a nice way of getting the salt off before getting back to the serious business of sunbathing. But beware, the gentle breeze tends to make you underestimate how strong the sun is.
The sea is fairly safe for swimming – usually there are no currents or anything nasty. There are rare occasions when the sea gets very rough. This is great for fools (like me) who like to make a total idiot of themselves in the waves – but look out for the kiddies then, as the waves can get nasty.
And if you want to get an all over tan, make your way to the far end, where it’s been ‘clothing optional’ for years and the majority of the folks there happily discard their swimwear. One other warning - if you go snorkelling around the rocks, look out for the black urchins. The spikes are nasty if you stand on them - but not life threatening!
Places near Plakias
Plakias (Greek: Πλακιάς) is a village on the south coast of the Greek island of Crete, in the Rethymno Prefecture, about 30 kilometres south of the city of Rethymno.
It is part of the municipality Foinikas. It is surrounded by mountains to the north and the Libyan Sea to the south.
Initially a fishing jetty and a few houses, Plakias developed in the last few decades into a tourist resort. The first official notice of Plakias was in 1961, when it was mentioned in a census as the permanent home of six fishermen. The history of surrounding mountain villages like Myrthios and Sellia goes back into the 10th century, when the Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas (961 AD) built roads and bridges in order to link those villages.
The eastern part of the long beach near Plakias (Crete) is called Paligremnos. The beach is sandy and very well organized, next to hotels and restaurants. Vertical cliffs nearby rise to a great height that attract many climbers. This place is called Gonates (i.e. knees), because according to tradition, the epic hero Digenis kneeled there to drink water from a local spring. In Paligremnos a strange phenomenon takes place on every full moon, from September to January. The moonlight is reflected in the mirror-like towering cliffs. Thus, many big squids approach the beach and locals gather them with big sticks. Some meters to the south of Paligremnos there are some tunnels, carved for transfering coal to cargo ships in the past.
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